Without Providing Evidence, Trump Pins School Bombing on Iran

On March 7, when a reporter aboard Air Force One asked President Donald Trump if the U.S. had bombed the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school, Trump said, “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.”

“Multiple news outlets have reported that video, satellite images and expert analysis indicate that the United States was likely responsible for the Feb”

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He continued: “We think it was done by Iran – because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.”

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At a March 9 press conference in Miami he again suggested Iran could be responsible, saying it “also has some Tomahawks” and that “whether it’s Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk, a Tomahawk is very generic.”

Multiple news outlets report evidence that points away from Iran and toward U.S. responsibility for the Feb. 28 bombing.

The strike occurred on the first day of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Operation Epic Fury and hit an elementary school located very close to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base that was struck in those attacks; NBC News reported the naval base had closed more than a decade ago, citing an Iran education ministry official and a mother.

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Iranian officials said more than 160 people, mostly students, were killed when the school was hit, but that casualty total has not been independently verified.

A video posted March 8 by the Mehr News Agency shows a missile striking in the vicinity, and multiple news organizations verified that video using geolocation tools.

The New York Times reported satellite images from Planet Labs showing multiple precision strikes that hit at least six Revolutionary Guards buildings along with the school, and the Washington Post reported that eight munitions experts said the missile seen in the Mehr video appears to be a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, a weapon the U.S. developed and has used in its air assault; the U.S. military has released videos and photos of Tomahawks being launched from Navy warships during the conflict.

Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician who covers munitions for Bellingcat, wrote that the video “shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an IRGC facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area,” and said the footage “appears to contradict President Donald Trump’s claim it was an Iranian missile that hit the school.”

U.S. and allied officials have provided cautious or noncommittal responses while investigators examine the incident.

“Multiple news outlets have reported that video, satellite images and expert analysis indicate that the United States was likely responsible for the Feb”

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing near Trump when the March 7 question was asked, did not echo the president and said, “We’re certainly investigating,” before adding that “the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a March 4 news conference that initial U.S. airstrikes were focused in the south of Iran, where the school bombing occurred, while Israel “predominantly” targeted air defense systems in Iran’s “northern flank.”

A U.S. Central Command spokesman, Capt. Tim Hawkins, told reporters that “it would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation.”

Reuters, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported on March 5 that U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for the apparent strike; the Associated Press, CBS News and the Wall Street Journal reported similar preliminary U.S. assessments.

A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, issued a statement saying the “investigation is ongoing” and has reached “no conclusions at this time,” and called it “both irresponsible and false for anyone to claim otherwise.”

Significant uncertainties remain and investigators have noted technical limits to assigning culpability at this stage.

Reuters reported that officials did not rule out the possibility new evidence could absolve the U.S., and N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an arms and munitions intelligence specialist, said remnants of the missile would need to be examined to more definitively determine culpability.

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The Associated Press noted that no independent agency has reached the site during the war to investigate.

CBS News said the preliminary U.S. assessment suggests the United States is “likely” responsible but did not intentionally target the school and may have hit it in error, possibly due to the use of dated intelligence that wrongly identified the area as still part of an Iranian military installation.

Trump asserted at one point that Iran “also has some Tomahawks,” but Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, told FactCheck.org that “Iran has none,” and Trevor Ball wrote the U.S. “is the only participant in the war that is known to have Tomahawk missiles.”

FactCheck.org reported that only the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and the Netherlands, besides the U.S., use Tomahawks and that those four countries are not involved in the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.

Trump said he would “live with” whatever the investigation report shows once it is complete.