The strike occurred on the first day of the Middle East war, but AFP has been unable to access the location to independently verify the circumstances around it or the toll reported by Iranian media.

Iranian authorities have to give explicit approval to foreign media organisations wishing to report outside Tehran.

Here is what we know about the strike:

- What Iran says -

The strike and an initial toll were first reported by Iranian media citing the governor of Minab, a county in southern Iran, on February 28.

That was the first day of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which also killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and which triggered the Middle East war.

The reported toll climbed swiftly and, according to state media, funerals were held for at least 165 people including students killed.

State television carried images showing a large crowd of mourners weeping over what appeared to be bodies wrapped in white shrouds.

Other images released by state media showed individuals preparing coffins draped in the Iranian flag -- some bearing photographs of children.

Another aerial image showed excavators digging out at least 100 graves at an unidentified mass burial site.

AFP has been unable to independently verify the date the images were taken or access the location to verify their content.

President Masoud Pezeshkian blamed the United States and Israel for the strike.

- What the US says -

But President Trump has blamed Iran.

"We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday.

Pressure on Trump increased after The New York Times authenticated video uploaded by Iranian news agency Mehr News, showing a US Tomahawk cruise missile striking a structure described as a clinic inside a Revolutionary Guards' base next to the school.

Trump said the United States was investigating the strike "right now".

"Whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report," Trump said, adding he did not "know enough about" the strike.

He also suggested Iran may have used a Tomahawk missile -- a weapon it does not possess -- to hit the school.

The Times had previously reported that US military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards' base is located, "suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike".

According to the Times, in this war, the only military using Tomahawks is the US.

US Central Command has released footage of Tomahawk launches filmed on February 28, the day Minab was hit, while senior US officers briefed that early salvoes included Navy Tomahawks across Iran's southern flank.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week said the United States would not intentionally target a school and said the Pentagon was investigating.

"The United States would not deliberately target a school. Our objectives are missiles, both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them," he told reporters.

- What Israel says -

Israel has consistently denied any involvement in or knowledge of the strike.

"We found no connection to IDF operations to the strike... We have checked multiple times and have found no connection between the IDF and whatever happened in that school," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists on Sunday.

- Where is the school? -

Norway-based rights group Hengaw said the school was holding its morning session at the time of the strike and had about 170 students present.

Footage filmed from a parking lot showed black smoke billowing from a damaged building adorned with murals featuring drawings of crayons, children and an apple.

AFP has geolocated the clip to a building in Minab, though it has not been able to independently verify the nature of the site.

AFP has confirmed the building was located in close proximity to two sites controlled by the Revolutionary Guards.

The Shahid Absalan clinic, under the supervision of the Guards navy's medical command, lies 238 metres (780 feet) from the site, while the Seyed al-Shohada IRGC cultural complex is 286 metres away.

AFP could not independently verify the date the footage from the car park was filmed.

burs-ser/st

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY