An emerging US military investigation now suggests that American forces may have been responsible for the devastating strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran an incident that killed scores of children and shocked the world. U.S. military investigators say preliminary evidence indicates it is likely that U.S. forces struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab on Feb. 28 during the opening phase of US‑Israeli attacks on Iran though the inquiry remains incomplete and no final conclusion has yet been reached.
Pentagon officials have declined to confirm responsibility with the U.S. Department of War and the White House saying the matter is still under review and stressing that U.S. forces “never target civilian targets.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed that Washington would not deliberately aim at a school while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged the investigation is ongoing.
Iranian authorities and state media have denounced the attack as a grave violation of international humanitarian law with images of mourning families and funerals broadcast across state outlets. Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has urged immediate international action to halt what Tehran calls illegal strikes on schools and other civilian infrastructure.
The U.N. human rights office has called for a full and transparent investigation saying that “the onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it,” while analysts warn that if U.S. responsibility is confirmed it would represent one of the deadliest episodes of civilian casualties in decades of Middle East conflict with potentially profound diplomatic and legal repercussions.
