Belek, March 27 -- Iran's men's national football team made an emotional tribute to the children killed in a recent school bombing in Minab, holding up schoolbags during the national anthem and wearing black armbands before a match against Nigeria on Friday.

Iran was playing a friendly match against Nigeria in the resort town of Belek. The gesture was a symbolic act of remembrance for the young victims of the Elementary Girls' school, which killed over 160 people in the southern Iranian city amid ongoing conflict, according to Press TV.

A girls' primary school in Minab, southern Iran, was hit during airstrikes linked to the Operation Roaring Lion on February 28, 2026. The Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school was destroyed by a mis...