Iran footballers pay tribute to victims of school strike at start of war
Al Jazeera
The Iran national team played for the first time since the Middle East conflict began, losing 2-1 to Nigeria.
The Iran men’s national team wore black armbands and posed with school rucksacks as the national anthem played before a match with Nigeria, to remember the victims of a strike on a primary school in Iran on the first day of the Middle East war.
The air strike on the school in the southern Iranian city of Minab on February 28 killed at least 170 people, including students and teachers.
The attack happened on the day the United States and Israel launched the war with attacks across Iran.
Before kickoff in their friendly fixture against Nigeria in the Turkish town of Belek on Friday, the Iran players, including former FC Porto and Inter Milan striker Mehdi Taremi, held pink and purple school bags with ribbons on them.
Iran lost the match 2-1.
The war is feeding into a theological narrative of martyrdom and sacrifice that is helping maintain the Islamic Republic
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