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US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it may never be known who was at fault for a deadly strike on a girls' school in Iran on February 28, the first day of the Iran war, that killed scores of children. The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, southern Iran, killed at least 175 people, mostly children under the age of 12, according to Iranian officials. The Trump administration has not directly accepted blame, and the Pentagon has produced no final accounting more than four months after the strike.
Coverage comparison
Initial internal US military investigations showed US forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike, as reported by Reuters in March and carried by several outlets, including The Hindu and South China Morning Post. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe but has not acknowledged any preliminary findings. Trump, however, has publicly doubted US responsibility, telling reporters, "I don't think it was us."
Trump's remarks came during a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, when he was asked about the Pentagon's investigation. He said, "I don't know that they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it's horrible what happened."
Some outlets have focused on the lack of accountability and transparency surrounding the strike. The Guardian described the attack as one of the US military's deadliest civilian bombings in decades and noted that critics doubt the Pentagon will ever provide answers, or will bury results under classifications. South China Morning Post reported that the US military possessed evidence almost immediately that the site had been struck, and that the Trump administration has not directly accepted blame.
Iranian authorities have said the United States and Israel attacked the school, killing 175 people, including 168 girls. TASS reported that Iran made this claim on the day of the strike, and that missile debris found at the site bore markings consistent with American munitions. Trump initially blamed Iran for the attack without providing evidence, then later said it was a mistake, according to multiple reports.
Key claims
- Trump said it may never be known who was at fault, adding "I don't think it was us" and called on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to back his assertion. Hegseth said the investigation is being taken seriously and that findings will be divulged at the appropriate time.
- An initial internal US military investigation showed US forces were likely responsible, as reported by Reuters in March; the Pentagon has not acknowledged any preliminary findings.
- The US used seven-year-old targeting data that failed to indicate the building was a school, according to sources familiar with the matter.
- The strike killed at least 175 people, mostly children, and injured 95 others, according to Iranian officials.
- Trump suggested Iran was responsible for the attack, then later said it was a mistake; he has also said the investigation is ongoing and that "nobody did that on purpose."
The investigation into the strike has become a test case for the Pentagon's new approach to "warfighting," as Defense Secretary Hegseth described it. He said in early March that "our rules of engagement are bold, precise and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it."
The attack occurred as the US and Israel began military operations against Iran. The school was one of many across Iran established for children of families tied to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard or other state institutions, according to Shiva Amelirad, an international representative for an Iranian teachers' union who has been in contact with people in Minab. She said, "Regardless of the students' family backgrounds, children are civilians and any attack targeting a school is unequivocally condemnable."