Trending Now - Pentagon Investigation Links US Missile to Iran School Strike
WHO:
President Trump, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander-in-chief Hossein Salami, N.R. Jenzen-Jones (director of Armament Research Services), Oona Hathaway (professor of International Law at Yale Law School).
U.S. Central Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, Iranian state media, New York Times, NPR, Bellingcat.
WHAT:
A missile strike on an Iranian girls' school killed at least 165 civilians, many of them children.
The Pentagon has launched a formal investigation into the missile strike.
The investigation is expected to take months and will include interviews with planners, commanders, and those who carried out the strike.
The death toll from the attack is reported by Iranian officials as at least 175 people, the majority of whom were children.
The missile involved was identified as a Tomahawk missile.
The U.S. military's Central Command had only one staffer assigned to civilian casualty mitigation operations due to budget cuts.
WHERE:
The strike occurred at the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran.
The school was previously part of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval base.
WHEN:
The missile strike occurred on February 28th, 2026.
The Pentagon's investigation is ongoing as of March 12th, 2026.
The public health clinic on the base was opened in 2025.
WHY:
The strike was reportedly the result of a targeting mistake by U.S. military planners using obsolete data.
The U.S. has a policy to reduce civilian casualties, which was deprioritized following budget cuts by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
HOW:
The investigation will include interviews and assessments of the targeting process.
Historical satellite imagery shows the school was walled off from the military base sometime between 2013 and 2016.
Geolocation analysis by Bellingcat confirmed the missile strike's location and identified the missile type.
(UPDATED March 12, 2026 01:30 UTC)
A missile strike on an Iranian girls' school in Minab on February 28 killed at least 165 civilians, many of whom were children, with Iranian officials reporting the death toll as high as 175. In response, the Pentagon has launched a formal investigation into the incident, which will take months and involve interviews with military planners and those involved in the strike, as it was reportedly the result of a targeting mistake using outdated data. The U.S. military's Central Command had only one staffer dedicated to civilian casualty mitigation operations due to budget cuts, raising concerns about the prioritization of civilian safety in military operations.