Fact Check: Is image of 165 Iranian schoolgirls killed in US-Israel attack real?

TEHRAN, IRAN: The destruction in Iran from 'Operation Epic Fury', launched on Sunday, February 28, has been extensive and ongoing as of Tuesday, March 3. Reports highlighted strikes near or on civilian infrastructure have led to deaths/injuries.

Amid this, a rumor circulated online in the form of an image claiming that 165 Iranian schoolgirls were killed during the US-Israel attack. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.

Claim: 165 Iranian schoolgirls killed in US-Israel attack

An X user @DalrympleWill shared a post that read, "165 coffins of schoolgirls being buried today..." The post contained an image showing the bodies of several school girls wrapped in white cloth as their parents mourned. 

Similarly, another X user shared a similar post that read, "Saddest visuals from Iran. Parents burying their kids after 165 schoolgirls killed by US-Israel attack, who will never laugh again, never play again & never grow old."

This X post also contained two aerial shots of graves dug up for the 165 schoolgirls. 

The US-Israel joint strike aims to dismantle Iran's missile capabilities, navy, nuclear pursuits, proxy networks, and regime leadership to prevent nuclear weapon acquisition and encourage internal regime change.

Fact Check: Partly true, image shared is AI-generated

The claim made in the X post that 165 school girls were killed is true, but the image attached to the post is generated using artificial intelligence tools. 

While checking the image's authenticity on Zero GPT's AI image detector, the result showed that the image is fake with a 97% chance of it being AI-generated. 

However, the aerial shots shared in the other X post are genuine, as those images were also shared by several news outlets that covered the incident.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared a post on X that read, "These are graves being dug for more than 160 innocent young girls who were killed in the US-Israeli bombing of a primary school. Their bodies were torn to shreds. This is how 'rescue' promised by Mr. Trump looks in reality. From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood."

He also shared an image showing long lines of burial plots marked with white chalk outlines across a dusty field, as Mourners stood nearby while funeral preparations took place, capturing a moment of deep national grief.

Notably, Iranian officials say a joint US-Israeli airstrike targeted a primary school in Minab, a city in Hormozgan province. As per Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, quoting a local prosecutor, 96 people were also wounded in the strike.