The Pentagon has formally acknowledged responsibility for a devastating missile strike on a girls’ school in Iran that resulted in the deaths of 168 students and 14 teachers. This admission comes as part of a preliminary investigation into the tragic incident that took place on February 28 at the Shajra Tayba Primary School in Minab. The findings reveal that the attack was based on obsolete intelligence, which tragically led to the loss of innocent lives.
The investigation uncovered that the US Central Command had targeted a nearby installation belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). However, the coordinates used for the strike were derived from outdated data supplied by the Defense Intelligence Agency. This critical lapse in intelligence meant that the missile hit the school instead of the intended military target. Satellite imagery later showed that the school and the IRGC facility had once been part of a single compound, but in 2016, a physical barrier and a separate entrance were constructed to distinguish the school from the military site.
It is important to note that this error was not a result of deliberate targeting but rather a failure in updating and verifying intelligence information. The Pentagon’s preliminary report, which was first brought to public attention by the New York Times, highlights that the inaccurate data from US defense intelligence agencies was the root cause of the tragic mistake. Despite growing evidence, former President Donald Trump had repeatedly insisted that Iran was responsible for the attack, a claim now contradicted by the Pentagon’s findings.
In response to the report, US Central Command has declined to provide comments on the preliminary conclusions of the inquiry. Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior officials have emphasized that the United States does not intentionally target civilian locations. They underscored that deliberately striking schools, hospitals, or other civilian structures would constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law, a principle the US military asserts it upholds.
The human cost of the missile strike has been deeply felt in Iran, where images of the funerals for the young victims were broadcast on state television last week. The small coffins, draped with Iranian flags, were carried from a truck through large crowds gathered to mourn the loss of the children and their teachers. This tragic event has intensified tensions and drawn international attention to the consequences of flawed military intelligence in conflict zones.
