Iran says US strike near Ahvaz hospital forced evacuation of 211 children
Tehran accused Washington of a war crime after a blast near a children’s cancer hospital in Ahvaz, while the US said it had launched new strikes on Iran.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Iran accused the United States of striking near a children’s cancer hospital in Ahvaz, saying the blast forced the evacuation of 211 patients receiving chemotherapy. The allegation adds to fears that the nearly five-month conflict could widen and push a negotiated end further out of reach.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on X on Thursday that the US attack near Shahid Baghaei Specialised Hospital in southwestern Iran was “barbaric” and amounted to a “cowardly war crime.” He compared the incident to Israel’s attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.
A doctor at the hospital told reporters the explosion was so close and powerful that staff initially believed the facility itself had been hit. Dr Majid Bou’azar, the hospital’s manager, told Al Jazeera that 211 patients had to be moved because of the strikes.
Another staff member told Al Jazeera that the patients included children with cancer, some of whom were on oxygen or ventilators. The staff member described people leaving with children in their arms, IV lines in their hands and wheelchairs in use during the evacuation.
Hospital Director Reza Bazar said earlier that US attacks on Ahvaz had left the hospital unable to operate, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
US reports new strikes as Iran claims retaliation
The United States did not address Iran’s allegation about the hospital, according to Al Jazeera. US officials said Washington carried out another round of strikes on Iran on Thursday.
Iran said it struck US military sites in Jordan and Kuwait, Al Jazeera reported. Leaders in the Gulf remained on high alert over the risk that the war could spread further across the region.
President Donald Trump has threatened to hit Iranian power plants and bridges next week if Tehran does not resume talks, according to Al Jazeera. Iran has warned that it would answer by targeting civilian infrastructure in nearby Gulf countries.
International law prohibits deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure, and such attacks can constitute war crimes in most cases. Baghaei accused Western governments of applying a double standard, saying states in the Global South are expected to follow the laws of war while powers in the Global North threaten prohibited attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also accused Washington of war crimes in a Telegram post on Thursday. He called US attacks on civilian infrastructure a clear violation of the United Nations Charter and core principles of international law, according to Al Jazeera.
Hospitals and civilian sites under scrutiny
Iran has also faced accusations over its conduct in the war. Saudi Arabia described Iranian strikes in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait as “treacherous,” while Tehran has said it is targeting only US military assets, according to Al Jazeera. Evidence has emerged indicating Iranian strikes damaged civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries.
Al Jazeera correspondent Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian officials have reported severe damage to 17 hospitals during the current war and the previous conflict in June last year.
Serdar said the Ahvaz incident recalled for many Iranians the Minab primary school attack on the first day of the war, when the US and Israel bombed a school in southern Iran, killing at least 168 children, according to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reported that evidence suggests the US was responsible for the Minab strike. Democratic senators are pressing the Trump administration to release the findings of an investigation within the next week, while Amnesty International has concluded that Washington was responsible, calling the strike either “a shameful intelligence failure” or “a reckless and indiscriminate attack.”
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.