Iran confirms 3,375 dead in war, including children, foreign nationals
857 schools damaged in war as student death toll mounts
Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization has identified 3,375 people killed in the recent “Ramadan War,” its chief said Sunday, while lawmakers reported widespread damage to schools and mounting student casualties following attacks blamed on US and Israeli forces.
Abbas Masjedi, head of the state forensic body, said the victims were identified using “scientific” methods through April 10, including 2,875 men and 496 women. The organization is the sole official authority for such figures, he said, ISNA reported.
Masjedi said children were among the dead, including seven infants under one-year-old, 255 aged between one and 12, and 121 aged 13 to 18. Most victims fell in the 19–40 age bracket, followed by those aged 41–60. A smaller share was over 61.
He said most victims were Iranian nationals, though some held citizenship from Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, China, Iraq and Lebanon. The highest tolls were recorded in Tehran, Hormozgan and Isfahan provinces.
From the outset of the attacks, the organization mobilized nationwide, running autopsy halls at full capacity and deploying round-the-clock, multi-layered shifts to process remains. Identification relied on DNA profiling, tissue sampling and cross-matching with relatives, with strict protocols to prevent “any error,” Masjedi said.
Separately, Mohammad Molavi, deputy head of parliament’s education commission, said 857 schools were damaged during what he called the “third imposed war,” describing the strikes as a “clear violation” of educational rights.
Molavi said 277 students were killed, including 157 boys and 113 girls, along with young children. He added that 344 teachers and 67 education staff also died in the attacks.
He pointed to a strike on a primary school in Minab as evidence of “war crimes,” and said 154 academic sites, including laboratories, libraries and dormitories, were hit. Such attacks contravene international law, he said, citing provisions of the Rome Statute.
It is said that service delivery continued throughout the conflict, with authorities streamlining coordination among medical, municipal and military institutions to ensure swift identification and handover of victims to families.