U.S. military investigators reportedly believe American forces were likely responsible for a strike on an Iranian school in Minab, in what analysts and human rights officials believe is the deadliest incident for civilian casualties since Donald Trump’s administration and Israeli forces began attacking the country.
Neither U.S. or Israeli officials have publicly taken responsibility for the strike, which killed 150 students, according to Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. The total death toll, which has reportedly exceeded 175 people, has not been independently confirmed.
Citing two U.S. officials, Reuters reported that military investigators have not yet reached a conclusion in an investigation but believe evidence shows the U.S. is responsible for the attack; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the White House have confirmed that the Pentagon is investigating.
Evidence from data analysts reviewing satellite imagery, video footage and social media appears to show the school was hit by a precision strike and may have been struck more than once. Maps from the Department of Defense also appear to show two Iranian air defense targets surrounding the school’s location, which is within what the Pentagon describes as a “U.S./Israeli strikes” zone.
Outside military analysts also have suggested that the Pentagon’s AI-driven targeting — or human error that failed to check whether target maps were up to date — may have played a role in the strikes.
Asked whether the deaths were the result of a U.S. strike, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday “not that we know of.”
“The United States of America does not target civilians, unlike the rogue Iranian regime that targets civilians, that kills children … and uses propaganda quite effectively,” she added. “And unfortunately, many people in this room have fallen for that propaganda.”
On Monday, in his first briefing after the beginning of the campaign, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth bluntly stated there would be “no stupid rules of engagement,” “no politically correct wars,” and “no nation-building quagmire” as the U.S. and Israel continue attacks in Iran.
Hegseth told reporters Wednesday that the Pentagon is “taking a look and investigating” the school strike.
“All I know – all I can say is that we’re investigating that,” he said. “We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.
It remains unclear what evidence the Pentagon is reviewing, what types of munitions were used, and why the school would have been a target.
The Pentagon referred The Independent’s requests for comment to U.S. Central Command.
“It would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation,”a CENTCOM official said in a statement to The Independent.
The Shajarah Tayyiba elementary school for girls is in the city of Minab, roughly 600 miles from Tehran and near the Strait of Hormuz.
The school is adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to satellite images.
Iranian authorities reported initial strikes in the area at roughly 10:45 a.m., with reports emerging from social media at 11:30 a.m. local time Saturday, February 28, which is the beginning of the Iranian workweek, when teachers and students would have been inside the school.
Footage reviewed by BBC Verify shows a man filming the area as he rushes into the school’s courtyard. Four plumes of black smoke can be seen from inside the courtyard. The smoke appears to emerge from the location of nearby strikes, including the IRGC compound.
Satellite imagery appears to show that multiple precision strikes hit at least six IRGC buildings and the school itself. Four buildings inside a nearby naval base were completely destroyed and two other buildings showed impact points at the center of their roofs, according to an analysis from The New York Times.
Middlebury College professor Jeffrey Lewis, who specializes in satellite imagery, told NPR that satellite images appear to be consistent with precision military strikes. Images show “very precise targeting,” with “almost all the buildings” in the compound being struck, he said.
But Lewis said the strike may have been the result of an error.
Earlier satellite images show that the school and nearby buildings were once part of the adjoining IRGC compound, but the school was separated from the base by a wall between 2013 and 2016. A nearby clinic was walled off between 2022 and 2024, images show.
Lewis believes it is possible American military planners had not updated their target sets, he told NPR.
“There are thousands of targets across Iran, and so there will be teams in the United States and Israel that are responsible for tracking those targets and updating them,” he said. “It’s possible that the target didn’t get updated.”
The strikes were among 1,000 targets within the first 24 hours of the campaign, which is relying on the Pentagon’s Maven Smart System, which was constructed by data mining company Palantir.
Embedded within that system is Anthropic’s AI tool Claude.
“Theres been plenty of speculation here that AI inputs in the targeting process were responsible for the school being targeted,” noted Nathan Ruser with Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a defense analyst think tank. “This is possible, but a human analyst determining aimpoints could have absolutely made the mistake of adding this school to the target list.”
While earlier imagery shows the school building struck was at one point incorporated into the IRGC’s Asif Corps barracks, “obviously, this doesn’t excuse an errant strike that killed scores of children,” Ruser noted. “But it is a mistake clearly within the possibility of human error, not just AI.”
Images from Iranian fact-checking group Fact-Nameh show extensive damage to the school building.
Verified footage of the immediate aftermath reviewed by BBC Verify and The New York Times also show scenes of panic among families searching the rubble.
Aerial footage showed neatly lined rows of at least 100 marked or freshly dug graves three days after the strikes.
First responders alleged that the school was hit by two strikes, with a second strike killing sheltering survivors, according to people speaking to Middle East Eye.
“When the first bomb hit the school, one of the teachers and the principal moved a group of students to the prayer hall to protect them,” according to a medic with the Red Crescent, citing conversations with survivors.
“The principal called the parents and told them to come and pick up their children. But the second bomb hit that area as well,” the person said. “Only a small number of those who had taken shelter survived.”
A statement from UNESCO said that “the killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law.”
“Attacks against educational institutions endanger students and teachers and undermine the right to education,” according to the United Nations agency.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday, said there are “significant concerns about the respect for international and military law, especially with conduct of hostilities” during the U.S.-Israeli campaign, including whether precautions were taken or proportionality was considered.
“When it comes to a school, obviously it is a civilian institution that should never be attacked,” he said.
Questions about the type of weapons that was used and the timing of the attack, among other factors, “need to be taken into account” as officials perform “prompt, transparent and impartial investigations,” he said.
“We need this to happen very quickly and also make sure there is accountability and also redress for the victims,” he added . “The onus is now really on those that conducted these strikes.”
