US assessment says American strike likely hit Iranian girls school amid disputed accounts

WASHINGTON, DC: A deadly strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran has become one of the most controversial incidents in the ongoing war between the United States and Iran. The attack occurred during a wave of airstrikes in late February and resulted in the deaths of many students and staff.

Conflicting statements from officials, along with new video evidence, have raised questions about who was responsible for the b*mbing. Investigations by US authorities and analysis by experts are still ongoing as details continue to emerge.

Early US assessment on the girls’ school b*mbing

A preliminary US intelligence assessment suggests that the United States was “likely” responsible for the b*mbing of a girls’ school in Iran that killed 168 people, many of them children, on Saturday, February 28.

According to sources briefed on the assessment, the attack was not believed to have intentionally targeted the school. Instead, officials said the strike may have occurred by mistake, possibly because outdated intelligence incorrectly identified the location as part of an Iranian military installation.

The incident occurred amid the broader military conflict after the US and Israel launched a joint operation targeting Iranian military and political establishments.

The school strike quickly became one of the deadliest single incidents of the war. Iranian authorities said the victims included large numbers of schoolchildren who were inside the building at the time of the attack.

At the same time, President Donald Trump publicly disputed claims that the US was responsible. Speaking aboard Air Force One, he said he believed the b*mbing had been carried out by Iran itself. Trump said, "they're very, inaccurate as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was still investigating what happened at the school and had not yet reached a final conclusion about responsibility. When questioned about the incident in an interview, Hegseth said that "unlike our adversaries, the Iranians, we never target civilians," adding that "it's being investigated, which is the only answer I'm prepared to give."

Video evidence and analysis of a possible Tomahawk missile

New video footage released by Iranian state media appears to show a cruise missile striking the compound where the school was located. The seven-second clip shows the missile hitting a building inside a walled complex, with smoke already rising from the area where the school had been struck earlier.

Iranian state media reported that between 165 and 180 people were killed in the attack, many of them students. Experts who reviewed the footage said the missile appears consistent with a Tomahawk cruise missile.

According to analysts, the US is the only country involved in the conflict known to possess Tomahawk missiles. US officials have also confirmed that American forces were operating in southern Iran at the time of the strike.

"The first shooters at sea were Tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy," Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a press conference on Monday following the strike.

Researchers and journalists were able to verify the location shown in the video by matching buildings and other details with known features of the compound. Investigators from the online research group Bellingcat first geolocated the footage.

Satellite imagery indicates that the school had been separated from the nearby military compound by a wall between 2013 and 2016, while the airstrip at the site was removed in 2024.