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U.S. Military Likely Behind Deadly Tomahawk Strike on Iranian School in Minab

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Newly verified video appeared to show a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile striking an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base beside a girls’ primary school in Minab, southern Iran, where authorities said at least 165–175 people, most of them children, were killed on February 28.cnn +2 U.S. military investigators now believe it is “likely” American forces carried out the strike, in what rights groups called one of the deadliest civilian casualty incidents involving the United States in decades.cnn +1

Iran has blamed a joint U.S.-Israeli operation for the bombing of the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, while Washington has insisted it does not deliberately target civilian infrastructure and Israel has denied any role.cnn +1 President Donald Trump has publicly claimed, without presenting evidence, that malfunctioning Iranian munitions hit the school instead, a position increasingly at odds with emerging technical analysis.nytimes +1

What the new video shows — and why experts say it points to the U.S.

Short footage released by Iran’s semi‑official Mehr News Agency and analyzed by Bellingcat, BBC Verify, The New York Times and other outlets shows a low‑flying cruise missile in its terminal phase before it detonates inside an IRGC naval/base compound roughly 200 meters from the school.nytimes +2 Munitions specialists cited the missile’s shape, flight profile, engine exhaust and impact pattern as consistent with a U.S. Tomahawk, a weapon not known to be in Iran’s or Israel’s arsenals.nytimes +1

Geolocation of buildings, roads and terrain in the clip matched satellite imagery of the Minab complex, while smoke already rising near the school suggested the campus had been struck moments earlier in the same attack sequence.aljazeera A senior analyst quoted by the BBC said the projectile bore “all the hallmarks of a U.S. Tomahawk in its terminal phase,” reinforcing earlier open‑source indications that U.S. weapons were used in the area on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli air campaign.aljazeera +1

U.S. investigation, political backlash and calls for war-crimes probe

Reuters reported that an internal U.S. military review had reached a preliminary judgment that American forces were likely responsible for the Minab strike, though the Pentagon has not publicly confirmed this and says the inquiry is ongoing.cnn “We’re investigating that. We, of course, never target civilian targets,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that U.S. forces “would not deliberately target a school.”cnn +1

The apparent contradiction between those assurances and the mounting technical evidence has fueled political and diplomatic fallout. Six senior Senate Democrats described the incident as “appalling” and demanded a “full and impartial” investigation, while UNESCO called the bombing of the primary school a “grave violation of humanitarian law” and Human Rights Watch urged that it be probed as a potential war crime.theguardian +1 A U.N. rights inquiry has already said the wider U.S.-Israeli campaign in Iran violated the U.N. Charter and labeled the Minab deaths “shocking.”nytimes

The Bigger Picture

With casualty estimates clustered between 165 and 175 dead — including around 110 children, according to Iranian authorities — the Minab strike has become a symbol of the human cost of the new U.S.-Iran war and a test of whether powerful states can be held accountable for civilian deaths.nytimes +2 As open‑source investigations narrow responsibility and Washington’s own review points toward U.S. involvement, pressure is likely to grow for transparency on targeting decisions, reparations for victims’ families and concrete safeguards to prevent schools from becoming front‑line casualties in future conflicts.

cnn Reuters, Mar. 6, 2026
nytimes The New York Times, Mar. 8, 2026
aljazeera Bellingcat; BBC Verify, Mar. 8–9, 2026
theguardian Human Rights Watch, Mar. 7, 2026
middleeasteye Reuters, Mar. 2, 2026
aljazeera Politico, Mar. 7, 2026
aljazeera CNN, Mar. 6 & 9, 2026
bellingcat UN News / UNESCO, early Mar. 2026
nytimes Reuters, Mar. 4, 2026
reuters NBC News / BBC, early Mar. 2026