Mobile library opens in memory of Minab schoolchildren
Iran opened its first mobile library in Minab, a southern Iranian city, dedicating the 1,500-book collection to children who killed in a US missile strike on a school.
The Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab was hit by a US missile strike on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran, killing 168 people, most of them children.
Reza Salehi-Amiri, Iran’s minister of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts, inaugurated the library during a two-day visit to Hormozgan province, southern Iran.
The service aims to promote reading and improve access to books, especially for children and teenagers in areas without fixed libraries.
Anoushirvan Pishdar, head of Hormozgan’s public libraries department, said it would serve children, teenagers and other readers.
“Two mobile libraries had previously operated in Bandar Abbas, the provincial capital,” Pishdar said.
He said naming the library after the students killed at Shajareh Tayyebeh was intended to preserve their memory and link cultural activities with the values of sacrifice and remembrance.
Salehi-Amiri also visited the school, where students and teachers were killed, and met some of the victims’ family members.
He viewed documents and other material about the incident and heard accounts of efforts to preserve the memory of those killed.
“Minab today is no longer just a city, but has become a symbol of unity, solidarity and national resistance,” he said.
The minister also pledged government support for Minab residents. He described serving the victims’ families and the wider community as an important way to honor those killed.
The mobile library combines a memorial initiative with an effort to expand access to books. Its reach will depend on how regularly it operates and how many communities without permanent libraries it can serve.