News is provided by CNN International. These are the preliminary conclusions of the ongoing investigation
US attack hit school in Iran likely due to outdated information
by Zachary Cohen, Thomas Bordeaux e Gianluca MezzofioreCNN
The US military accidentally attacked an Iranian elementary school in an act that Iranian state media says killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers, likely due to outdated information about a nearby naval base, according to two sources briefed on the preliminary findings of an ongoing military investigation.
The February 28 attack on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab occurred while the US military was carrying out raids on a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) installation, according to the initial investigation.
US Central Command created target coordinates for the attack using outdated information provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which contributed to the error, sources briefed on the preliminary findings told CNN.
In response to a request for comment, a Defense Information Agency spokesperson said: “The incident is under investigation; we have referred it to the Pentagon for further comment.” A spokesperson for US Central Command also declined to comment on the preliminary findings, citing the ongoing investigation.
Satellite images from 2013 showed that the school and IRGC base were once part of the same complex. But footage from 2016 revealed that a fence had been erected to separate the school from the rest of the base and that a separate entrance to the school had been built. In December 2025, images showed dozens of people in the school yard apparently playing
The New York Times was the first to report details of the preliminary investigation, which is still ongoing.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was unaware of a New York Times report that an ongoing military investigation had concluded, at least preliminarily, that the United States was responsible for a deadly attack on a school in southern Iran.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump said when asked by CNN’s Kristen Holmes about the Times report and whether he accepted responsibility.
The investigation’s initial findings raise additional questions about what led to the attack on the school and who was ultimately responsible.
Multiple sources told CNN that the preliminary investigation is consistent with what has become increasingly obvious as new evidence has continued to emerge publicly in recent days: the US military carried out the attack.
A video geolocated by CNN, filmed from a nearby construction site and released by Mehr News, a semi-official Iranian news agency, shows a munition that experts say is consistent with an American BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) missile hitting a location inside the IRGC base on February 28. As the camera pans to the right, a huge cloud of smoke can be seen in the direction of Shajareh Tayyiba School.
Trump had previously stated that Iran could be responsible for the attack, but when asked why no one in his own administration seemed to publicly support that claim, he responded, “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”
“As the New York Times acknowledges in its own reporting, the investigation is still ongoing,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the attack will be “thoroughly” investigated, adding that the U.S. “tried every way possible to avoid civilian casualties.”
Meanwhile, he accused Iran of attacking civilians “indiscriminately”.
Missile debris that Iranian authorities say was recovered from the deadly strikes appears to be from an American Tomahawk cruise missile, according to a previous CNN analysis.
Four photographs of the fragments were shared on Telegram by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, with the caption stating that they were remnants of the attack. It was not possible to confirm whether the fragments, photographed on a table in front of the ruined school building, came from the attack on the school, an attack on the nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base or elsewhere.
However, they appear to be consistent with a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, according to an analysis by CNN and experts.
The Pentagon classifies the missiles as precision-guided munitions. Several buildings on the base appear to have been hit by precision missiles.
Trump rejected the suggestion that the US carried out the attack at a press conference on Monday, in which he said Iran also possessed Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, produced by the US defense company Raytheon, are held only by a small group of US allies authorized to purchase them. Even Israel, one of Washington’s closest partners, does not have them, and several munitions experts confirmed to CNN that Iran does not have them either.
