A new investigation by The New York Times suggests that the United States may have been responsible for a strike that reportedly killed dozens of people at an elementary school in southern Iran.
The February 28 attack struck a primary school in the town of Minab and left at least 150 people dead, according to Iranian authorities.
Neither the United States nor Israel has formally accepted responsibility for the incident, which occurred near facilities associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The United States Department of Defence has said it is examining the circumstances surrounding the attack.
According to the Times report published Thursday, statements from the US military indicating that naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz were under attack at the time “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”
The report said analysis of social media posts, photographs and video footage shared by witnesses showed that the Shajare Tayyebeh elementary school was hit at roughly the same time as a nearby IRGC naval base.
Two unnamed US officials told Reuters that military investigators “believe it is likely” American forces were behind the strike.
AFP said it has not been able to independently access the location to verify the reported casualty figures or confirm the exact details of the attack.
The United States’ top military officer, General Dan Caine, said on Wednesday that US forces had been carrying out strikes across southern Iran during that period.
The Times added that a map presented by Caine showed that areas including Minab had been targeted within the first 100 hours of the military operation. He also noted that Israeli forces were mainly conducting operations further north in Iran.
Satellite imagery reviewed by the newspaper suggested the school building had once been part of an IRGC naval facility. However, historical images available publicly “show the structure bears the hallmarks of a school, including a sports field and other recreational areas that were added over time.”
A former State Department official who now teaches at Stanford University’s Centre for Human Rights and International Justice, Beth Van Schaack, said US intelligence capabilities should have detected the presence of a school nearby.
“Given the U.S.’s intelligence capabilities, they should have known that a school was in the vicinity,” she told the Times.
The Norway-based human rights group Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights reported that the school was holding classes when the strike occurred and that about 170 pupils were believed to have been on the premises.
When asked whether the United States was involved in the attack, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded: “Not that we know of.”
