All evidence points to the US, but the White House isn’t admitting guilt
The US-Israeli war on Iran opened with massive strikes on urban centers, the assassination of the country’s supreme leader and his family, and the brutal slaying of more than 160 children at a girls’ elementary school in Minab. As more information about the bombing has come to light, discussion has shifted from whether the US carried out the atrocity, to how and why.
The February 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh girls’ school came on the first day of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, dubbed ‘Operation Epic Fury’ by the administration of US President Donald Trump and ‘Operation Lion’s Roar’ by the Jewish state.
Eyewitnesses have reported at least two missiles hitting the school in quick succession, leaving more than 170 people dead, almost all of whom were schoolgirls. Two missiles are believed to have hit empty warehouses adjacent to the school.
Video footage from the school showed scenes of devastation after the attack, as rescuers combed through the rubble and parents searched for their missing children.
The world looked on in horror as the initial footage was corroborated and heartbreaking images of child-sized graves being prepared were published. The UN declared that “a strike on a school represents a grave assault on children, on education, and on the future of an entire community.”
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What did the US and Israel say about the attack?
American and Israeli officials immediately offered a conflicting mix of denials and explanations for the strike. Israeli ambassador to Australia Hillel Newman claimed on March 2 that the school “was actually used by [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and other forces,” and that his sources indicated that the building was “not used at the time as a school but more as an IRGC and governmental building.”
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Nadav Shoshani later said that his staff “checked multiple times and have found no connection between the IDF and whatever happened in that school.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt all insisted that the US does not target civilians. “I would caution you from pointing the finger at the United States of America when it comes to targeting civilians, because that’s not something that these armed forces do,” Leavitt told reporters on March 4, before accusing reporters of falling for Iranian “propaganda.”
Asked about the attack on March 7, Trump said that he believed it was “done by Iran…we think it was done by Iran, because they’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever.”
Hegseth did not back up Trump’s assertion, telling reporters that the Pentagon was investigating the incident. He did, however, insist that “the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
How did Iran respond?
Iran blamed the massacre on the US and Israel. Several top officials in Tehran referred to the bombing as a “war crime” and vowed to exact revenge. “Calling this a mere ‘war crime’ falls tragically short of capturing the sheer wickedness and depravity of such an atrocity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on March 4.
Iranian ambassador to Belarus Alireza Sanei described the attack as a “ritual of child sacrifice” by the US and Israel.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry released harrowing photographs of hundreds of graves being prepared for the victims of the strike. “These are graves being dug for more than 160 innocent young girls who were killed in the US-Israeli bombing of a primary school,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. “Their bodies were torn to shreds. This is how ‘rescue’ promised by Mr Trump looks in reality. From Gaza to Minab, innocents murdered in cold blood.”
The Tomahawk video that changed everything
Video footage published on March 8 and verified by multiple news agencies and analysts provided the most conclusive evidence that the US was responsible for the attack. In the footage, a cruise missile with a profile matching an American-made Tomahawk is seen striking a structure beside the school.
At the time of the impact, a cloud of smoke was already rising from the school itself, suggesting that the missile was at least the second of four to hit the area.
“Double-tap American #tomahawk missile that slaughtered 168 Iranian little angels in the city of #Minab,” Baqaei wrote in a post on X, sharing a video of the strike and photos of missile debris containing American-made components. “An unforgivable egregious WAR CRIME that must not go with impunity.”
Asked about the video, Trump doubled down on his outright denial and claims of Iranian involvement, alleging that Tomahawks missiles are “sold and used by other counties,” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”
“But whether it’s Iran or somebody else… the fact that a Tomahawk is very generic, it’s sold to other countries, but that’s being investigated right now,” he continued.
The BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile entered service in 1983, three years after the US cut off relations with Iran in the wake of the Islamic Revolution. It is operated exclusively by the US and a handful of American allies: Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, and the UK.
What did the New York Times reveal about the investigation into the strike?
Pentagon investigators have already confirmed that the US carried out the attack, the New York Times reported on March 11, citing unnamed military officials. The school was built on the site of a former IRGC facility, and investigators reportedly believe that officers at US Central Command relied on “outdated targeting data” from the Defense Intelligence Agency that still classified the school building as part of a military compound, even though it had been converted into a school over a decade ago.
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The site bore clear signs of civilian use, including a sports field, children’s murals and brightly painted walls, which were visible on satellite images taken almost a decade ago. The school also had a website, which was active at the time of the bombing.
The White House has still not admitted guilt. “As The New York Times acknowledges in its own reporting, the investigation is still ongoing,” Leavitt said in a statement.
Did AI choose the Minab school as a target?
The Pentagon uses Claude, a large language model created by AI firm Anthropic, to identify and analyze potential targets for military strikes. This collaboration has been the subject of extreme controversy, with Trump canceling government contracts with Anthropic in February over the company’s refusal to allow Claude’s use in mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic’s contract with the Pentagon will not expire until September.
According to the Times, investigators believe it is “unlikely” that Claude was involved in the attack on the school. Instead, they believe that the strike was the result of human error.
Claude reportedly played a key role in planning and conducting the US raid targeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, and in some of the initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
What has Russia said about the atrocity at the Minab girls school?
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova condemned the atrocity outright, accusing the US and Israel of “cruelty, cynicism, and dehumanization.” The attack was “irresponsible and reckless,” she insisted, calling the incident a violation of international and humanitarian law.
At the UN Security Council, Russia abstained from a motion condemning Iran’s strikes on US bases in Gulf states, as it made no mention of the Minab attack. According to Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, the motion made it seem as if “Tehran, on its own volition, and out of malice, conducted an unprovoked attack on Arab states.”
How have US allies reacted to the atrocity?
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has taken a significant step away from Trump, her erstwhile political ally, declaring solidarity with the victims of the “massacre.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has used the same term in his condemnation of the incident.
They are the only EU state leaders to condemn the incident. Neither European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen nor foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has made any public comment on the tragedy.
