Iran players and team officials have posed with photographs of children killed in the Middle East war before their friendly match against Costa Rica in Turkiye, AFP reports.

Every Iranian player held a photo during the national anthem before their 5-0 victory near the city of Antalya.

Iran’s head coach Amir Ghalenoei and the vice-president of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, were among the officials who also held up the photographs.

Iranian officials said some of the children pictured were the victims of an airstrike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli assault, that killed at least 170 people, including students and teachers.

“Iran is undergoing an extremely unjust and brutal aggression. It is therefore a responsibility that falls to our national team to show its solidarity with our people,” said Iran’s ambassador to Ankara, Mohammad Hassan Habibollah Zadeh, who was present at the match.