Jamshid Nazemi, deputy head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, said on Sunday that the unprovoked military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime against Iran resulted in a total of 3,468 deaths.
He stated that 45 percent of the martyrs were ordinary people and non-combatants.
Referring to numerous meetings between officials and the families of the victims, Nazemi said an international conference is planned to be held at the site of the Minab tragedy, where the United States and Israel carried out a brutal and deadly attack on an elementary school on February 28, killing more than 170 students and other civlians.
He added that plans are underway to build a memorial at the site of the attacked school in Minab to ensure that the tragic incident is not forgotten.
On February 28, the United States and the Israeli regime launched an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran, during which then Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and several senior military officials were martyred.
Iranian Armed Forces responded with weeks of missile and drone strikes targeting American and Israeli military positions in the occupied territories and the Persian Gulf region, inflicting heavy damages in 100 waves of counterattacks over a period of 40 days.
A Pakistani-mediated ceasefire lasting two weeks was reached on April 8, paving the way for talks in Islamabad. During those negotiations, Iran put forward a ten-point proposal that included the withdrawal of US forces and the removal of sanctions.
However, after 21 hours of negotiations on April 11 and 12, the sides failed to reach a deal, with Iranian representatives pointing to deep mistrust regarding Washington’s willingness to honor its commitments.
Iran has made clear that any return to ceasefire negotiations depends on the lifting of the US naval blockade. Officials have argued that the continued blockade constitutes a violation of the truce.