When Karoline Leavitt posted a serene photo of herself holding her newborn daughter, she probably expected warm wishes and maybe some political sniping from the usual corners of the internet. What she didn't expect was a response from two Iranian embassies both using the birth of her child to highlight one of the most controversial military strikes of the year.
The Iranian embassy in Armenia was the first to weigh in. It reposted Leavitt's Instagram announcement on X and attached a message that wasted no time getting to the point.
"Congratulations to you. Children are innocent and lovable," the embassy wrote. "Those 168 children that your boss killed in the school in Minab, and you justified, were also children. When you kiss your baby, think of the mothers of those children."
It was jarring and deliberate.
What Happened in Minab?
The strike Iranian officials referenced took place on February 28, during the early phase of a joint US-Israel military campaign against Iran. The target was reportedly the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab. Iranian authorities claimed the death toll reached 168, with over a hundred of those victims being children.
Multiple investigations that followed raised troubling questions about whether the school had been wrongly identified as a military installation. No definitive conclusion has been made public, and the US has consistently denied any deliberate targeting of civilians.
The Iranian embassy in South Africa also posted its own separate message aimed at Leavitt, going a step further in its language.
"When your child grows up and reads history, she will be ashamed that you served one of the most hated governments in history," the post read. "Your hands are stained with the blood of many innocent children, like the children of Minab."
Congratulations to you. Children are innocent and lovable. Those 168 children that your boss killed in the school in Minab, and you justified, were also children. When you kiss your baby, think of the mothers of those children. https://t.co/uhypZFhRRf
— IRI Embassy in Armenia (@iraninyerevan) May 9, 2026
How the White House Responded
This isn't the first time Leavitt has had to field questions about the Minab strike. Back in March, she faced reporters head-on and pushed back firmly against the narrative that the US had targeted civilians.
"The Department of War is investigating this matter," she said at the time. "The United States of America does not target civilians unlike the rogue Iranian regime that targets civilians, kills children, and has killed thousands of their own people in the past several weeks."
She also accused Iran of running an effective propaganda operation, suggesting some journalists in the room had fallen for it.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed a similar line during a Pentagon briefing, saying the military was looking into the incident but reiterating that civilian targets are never on the table.
President Trump himself went further, suggesting in March that Iran may have actually been responsible for the deaths — arguing that Iranian forces were "very inaccurate with their munitions" and pointing the finger back at Tehran.
A Broader Picture of Child Casualties
The back-and-forth over Minab is happening against a deeply troubling backdrop. According to UNICEF USA, more than 1,800 children across the Middle East have been killed or injured since the latest wave of regional violence erupted earlier this year. That number puts individual incidents like Minab into a wider, grimmer context one that both sides of this exchange are trying to own in the court of public opinion.
Iran's decision to respond to a birth announcement with a geopolitical message says something about how high tensions remain. Whether it lands as a powerful moral statement or a cynical move to exploit a private moment likely depends entirely on where you stand.
What's clear is that the Minab school strike and the question of accountability for it isn't going away quietly.
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