Iran condemns US attack near children’s hospital: ‘War crime’

Iran accused the United States of committing a “war crime” over the bombing near a pediatric cancer hospital in Ahvaz, in the southwest of the country. The attack, carried out last Wednesday (15), led 211 patients undergoing treatment, most of them children, to hastily leave the scene.

“This barbaric attack, which is reminiscent of the atrocities committed by Israel against healthcare facilities, caused great suffering and anxiety to hospitalized children and required the emergency evacuation of 211 patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said in a post on social media this Thursday (16).

The attack was carried out shortly after the United States Central Command (Centcom) announced the second wave of bombings of the day against Iranian territory. According to information from the Fars agency, the projectiles fell close to the hospital unit.

“Those who incessantly preach human rights, but deliberately turn a blind eye to attacks on hospitals and health centers, have lost all moral credibility,” Baghai stressed.

The director of the hospital unit, Reza Bazar, explained to the Qatari network Al Jazeera that although the structure was damaged, there are no reports of casualties.

Centcom (United States Central Command) commented on the attacks on Iranian territory, but did not mention the case at the hospital. “The attacks target Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels that freely transit the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international route for global trade,” the agency wrote on social media.

In recent weeks, the already precarious memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States has been abandoned. Since then, the two countries have blocked routes across the Strait. Iran, which claims to be in an “existential” war against the United States, according to the words of Parliament President Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has targeted American military installations in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

Last Wednesday’s episode (15) is not the first of a US attack on structures intended for the use of children. On February 28 this year, a US attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab killed 168 people. According to Iranian authorities, the majority were children.