Iran’s Araghchi in India for Brics meet; his plane carries a pointed message: ‘Minab168’ | India News
New Delhi: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting aboard a plane carrying a subtle message from Tehran: Minab168. The inscription on the plane is a reference to the 168 schoolchildren that Iran says were killed in a US strike on a school in Minab on February 28, underscoring the humanitarian toll of the war despite continuing diplomatic engagement.Photo of Araghchi on board the aircraft in Tehran shows the #Minab168 symbol prominently displayed on the fuselage.Araghchi’s visit comes at a fraught moment for West Asia, with ongoing conflicts involving Iran and the US-Israel axis expected to dominate discussions at the BRICS foreign ministers’ gathering in Delhi. He is expected to hold bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, with energy security, regional stability and connectivity likely to be on the agenda.Araghchi’s reference to the plane refers to one of the deadliest and most emotional incidents in Iran’s ongoing conflict.
What happened to Minabe?
On February 28, the first day of a US-Israeli military operation against Iran, Shazareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, a town in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province near the Strait of Hormuz, was hit during a strike that Iranian authorities said killed 168 schoolchildren. The attack quickly became a defining symbol of the war’s civilian toll. UNICEF said the victims included children between the ages of 7 and 12, calling it a stark reminder of the cost of the conflict on civilians.Minab’s position has been embroiled in controversy. The school was located near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facility, raising questions about whether it was caught in a strike targeting nearby military infrastructure. The Pentagon later launched a high-level investigation into the incident after initial findings suggested US forces may have been responsible, with reports indicating the possibility of faulty or outdated intelligence.
