Baqaei made the remarks on Monday after meeting with Seyyed Mousa Mousavi, the parliamentary representative of Mehr and Lamerd.
In a message posted on X, Baqaei said he had been briefed on the “harrowing details of a devastating American missile strike on a sports hall in the city of Lamerd, Fars Province.”
He said the attack took place on the afternoon of February 28, the same day that students at the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab were massacred with three US Tomahawk missiles.
On the first day of the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran on February 28, the Shajareh Tayyebeh all girls’ elementary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab was targeted in a US missile strike, killing at least 175 people, including 168 schoolgirls.
Baqaei said a residential area in Lamerd, including a sports hall, was targeted with four US Precision Strike Missiles.
“The attack slaughtered 24 persons, including a 2-year-old girl, several teenage volleyball players, and other women and men. More than 130 persons were injured, many of whom now face permanent disabilities,” he said.
According to Baqaei, the missiles exploded in midair before impact and dispersed more than 180,000 high-velocity tungsten pellets at high speed in all directions.
“This was not a mistake,” he said, adding that there was now “no doubt” the US military had used the missiles for the first time in order to test their destructive power against a residential neighborhood and sports facility.
He described the strike as a “despicable war crime” and said those responsible “must be held accountable before any competent court of law.”
“The Iranian nation will never forget its martyred sons and daughters,” Baqaei said. “We will neither forget nor forgive this crime.”
