The United States Department of Defense announced on Friday, 13 March 2026, that it has elevated the investigation into the 28 February strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, in Iran’s Hormozgan province, after media reports disclosed that a preliminary military inquiry had found United States forces were likely responsible for the attack. Iranian authorities have stated that the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School killed 168 children. If United States military responsibility is confirmed, the incident would rank among the most significant civilian casualty events in decades of United States military operations in the Middle East.
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking at a press conference at the Pentagon, declined to comment on the preliminary findings of the investigation, stating that the Department of Defense would not allow media reporting to drive the pace or direction of the inquiry. Hegseth confirmed that the investigation had been transferred to a higher command level and would be led by an unnamed United States general officer from outside United States Central Command, the military command currently overseeing operations against Iran. The appointment of an outside officer is a standard procedure the United States military employs to ensure greater investigative independence. Hegseth stated the investigation would take as long as necessary to address all matters surrounding the incident.
Three United States officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe internal military processes, told Reuters that the elevated investigation Hegseth referred to is an administrative probe known as a 15-6 investigation. A 15-6 investigation is an administrative process that can form the basis for disciplinary action if warranted and typically includes sworn statements and interviews with all personnel involved. Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of United States Central Command, ordered the 15-6 probe last week after an initial review was completed. The outside general officer was appointed on Thursday, 12 March 2026, according to one of the officials.
What preliminary findings say about how United States forces may have struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab
It remains unclear precisely how United States forces struck the school. Preliminary findings disclosed to Reuters suggest that United States forces may have relied on outdated targeting data that did not distinguish between the Shajareh Tayyebeh School and an adjoining Iranian military base in Minab. The school and the military installation share geographic proximity in the town of Minab in southern Iran. Satellite imagery reviewed by multiple news organisations dating to mid-2015 shows that the school building had been walled off from the Iranian military base and appears to have operated as a school since at least 2018, when painted murals became visible on the school’s outer walls.
Video and physical evidence reviewed by multiple organisations suggests the school was struck by a Tomahawk cruise missile, a precision-guided munition operated by a small number of nations. Two weapons experts independently confirmed the missile’s likely identity. Joseph Dempsey, a military analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, assessed that the missile seen in available footage is highly likely to be a variant of the Tomahawk and does not appear to match any other known cruise missile operated by countries involved in the conflict. Joost Oliemans, a Netherlands-based conflict analyst specialising in military equipment, separately assessed that based on available footage there are no plausible alternative missile candidates, and noted that neither Israel nor Iran are among the very small number of countries that operate missiles of a comparable type. The United States is the only party to the current conflict known to deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles.
A visual investigation published by Reuters on Thursday, 12 March 2026, established that the Shajareh Tayyebeh School maintained a years-long public online presence, including photographs of children and their activities. The school was one of 59 schools within the Persian Gulf Martyrs’ Cultural Educational Institute, a network affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian military force that reports to Iran’s supreme leader. Archived copies of the network’s website confirm the school’s educational function. The school’s website contained photographs of students gathered in the school yard, which investigators matched to verified video footage of the site after the strike. An investigation by NPR reported that historical satellite imagery showed the school was once part of a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base in Minab, but that the school had been physically separated from the base by a wall sometime between 2013 and 2016.
How did the United States military’s targeting process produce an intelligence failure leading to the Minab school strike
NPR, which first reported that the strike appeared to involve a precision munition and likely resulted from outdated intelligence, established through commercial satellite imagery and independent expert analysis that the strike appeared consistent with a precision attack on a nearby military complex rather than the school itself. Based on historical satellite imagery reviewed by NPR, an earlier map of United States military targets in Iran showed the school as part of what had formerly been an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base in Minab. The school was walled off from the base sometime between 2013 and 2016 but that separation apparently did not appear in the targeting data used on 28 February 2026. A public health clinic on the former base grounds was also struck, and satellite imagery indicates it too had been physically separated from the base at some point prior to the strike.
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, an independent technical intelligence consultancy that provides munitions analysis to governments and non-governmental organisations, told NPR that Tomahawk cruise missiles are used and operated by a very small number of nations and that the United States is the only country in the current conflict that uses them. Jenzen-Jones assessed that based on emerging information it appeared likely to be a strike that had gone wrong, and that the most probable explanation involved an intelligence failure somewhere in the targeting process. [SINGLE SOURCE – VERIFY for Jenzen-Jones quote – NPR only]
An investigation by Al Jazeera English concluded that the strike was either based on outdated intelligence predating 2013, which it characterised as potentially constituting grave negligence, or was intentional. Minab’s location in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, placed the school within the primary operational area of United States military forces, which had also conducted strikes on the Bandar Abbas Naval Base approximately 80 kilometres west of Minab and on facilities in Konarak, approximately 400 kilometres to the southeast. The Al Jazeera investigation also cited the impact on the school as demonstrating either a weapons system failure or a serious United States Central Command intelligence-gathering error.
How the White House and Pentagon have responded to mounting evidence of United States responsibility in the Iran school strike
The investigation was opened and elevated against the backdrop of public statements by President Donald Trump initially dismissing United States military responsibility. Trump told reporters on 7 March 2026 that he believed the strike was carried out by Iran, claiming without offering evidence that Iranian munitions lack accuracy and suggesting that Iran may have targeted its own civilian population. Trump also described Tomahawk cruise missiles as very generic weapons, a characterisation that military and munitions experts have described as inconsistent with the operational record of the weapon. Multiple defence officials expressed concern about whether Trump would be willing to accept blame if United States responsibility were confirmed.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, responding to a request for comment from NPR, stated that the investigation was ongoing and reiterated that the United States does not target civilians. The Pentagon did not initially respond to NPR’s separate request for comment. The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Hegseth’s announcement of the elevated investigation appeared to constitute a tacit acknowledgment of a growing body of evidence that United States forces were responsible for the strike, and marked a shift in focus from the question of whether United States forces fired the missile to the question of how the incident occurred.
The announcement of the elevated investigation follows a wider pattern of controversy over United States military rules of engagement in the current conflict. At a press conference shortly after the war began, Hegseth criticised what he described as restrictive rules of engagement, stating such rules interfere with winning. Congress had previously directed the Pentagon to reduce civilian casualties through a 2019 law and established a dedicated office for that purpose, though that office was substantially scaled back prior to the current conflict. An investigation by Wikipedia-cited sources and congressional reaction noted that Senate Democrats publicly condemned the school strike in the days following the initial reports.
What Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said about the school strike and the broader United States-Israel war
Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, addressed the school strike as part of his first public statement since being named supreme leader on 8 March 2026. The statement, read by a news anchor on Iranian state television with a photograph of Khamenei displayed on screen, vowed revenge for those killed in the war, including in the school strike that killed over 165 people. Mojtaba Khamenei is the 56-year-old son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a United States-Israeli strike on Tehran on 28 February 2026, the first day of the war. In a separate earlier statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, the Islamic Republic of Iran vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and continue attacks on United States military bases in the region.
Mojtaba Khamenei blamed the school strike on Iran’s enemies without explicitly naming the United States as responsible. His elevation as supreme leader followed a vote by Iran’s Assembly of Experts on 8 March 2026, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and other senior Iranian officials pledging allegiance to the new leader. Analysts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace have described Mojtaba Khamenei as a transitional figure who inherited governance of a state at war with the United States, Israel, and facing sustained domestic discontent.
International reaction and United Nations condemnation of the Minab school strike under international humanitarian law
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation condemned the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School as a grave violation of humanitarian law. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the strike. A panel of 18 independent experts on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child stated it was alarmed by reports of the strike and called for the protection of children in conflict zones. Israel’s Defense Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani stated that Israel did not know who was responsible and indicated the Israeli Defense Forces were not aware of any Israeli Defense Forces operation in the area at the time. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, in an interview with Russian television channel Rain, denied Israeli responsibility and declined to attribute the strike to any specific actor.
The school strike has become a focal point in the broader international debate over civilian casualties in the ongoing United States-Israeli military operation against Iran. The death toll attributed to the Shajareh Tayyebeh School strike varies across sources, with figures cited ranging from 165 to 175 deaths. Iranian authorities have cited 168 deaths. The Pentagon has not confirmed any casualty figure pending the outcome of the formal investigation. If the investigation confirms United States military responsibility for all confirmed civilian deaths at the school, the incident would constitute the deadliest single United States military strike on civilians in at least 35 years.
Background: What is the United States-Israeli conflict with Iran and how did the war begin on 28 February 2026
On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated surprise air strikes on multiple sites and cities across Iran. The strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and numerous Iranian officials. The United States military targeted sites associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including missile infrastructure and military command facilities. Israel focused operations primarily on Iranian leadership and long-range missile capabilities in northern and central Iran. United States forces operated primarily in southern and central Iran, targeting facilities in the Bandar Abbas area, Minab, and sites near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran responded with missile and drone strikes against Israel, United States military bases, and United States-allied countries across the region. The conflict entered its fourteenth day as of 13 March 2026, with ongoing United States and Israeli strikes against Iranian targets, continued Iranian missile launches toward Israel and Gulf states, attacks on oil tankers in Iraqi territorial waters, and sustained disruption to global energy supply chains. The United States government has released 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of a coordinated International Energy Agency emergency stockpile release totalling 400 million barrels. Oil prices have climbed above 120 United States dollars per barrel at points during the conflict.
Key takeaways: What the Pentagon’s elevated Iran school strike investigation means for the United States military, Iran, and the broader conflict
- The United States Department of Defense has elevated the investigation into the 28 February 2026 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, Iran, appointing a general officer from outside United States Central Command to lead a formal administrative 15-6 probe that can serve as the basis for disciplinary action.
- Preliminary findings suggest United States forces relied on outdated targeting data that did not distinguish between the Shajareh Tayyebeh School and an adjoining Iranian military base in Minab; video and weapons expert analysis from multiple independent sources indicates the school was struck by a United States Tomahawk cruise missile.
- Iran has stated the strike killed 168 children; if United States military responsibility is confirmed, the incident would rank among the worst United States military civilian casualty events in at least 35 years and would have significant implications under United States law governing civilian protection in armed conflict.
- Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed revenge for deaths in the war including the school strike in his first public statement since being elected supreme leader on 8 March 2026, without explicitly naming the United States as responsible.
- The United Nations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, have condemned the strike as a grave violation of international humanitarian law; Senate Democrats and several allied governments have also called for accountability.
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