Pentagon investigators believe U.S. forces carried out an devastating airstrike that destroyed a Iranian girls elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people in the deadliest single attack of the weeklong war, according to a new published report.
An initial assessment suggests U.S. forces were to blame for the deadly strike in the southern Iran town of Minab, echoing the previous claims of Iranian officials, Reuters reported, citing two Pentagon officials.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brushed off questions about the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls school, saying the incident is still under investigation, without offering a time frame for completing the probe.
He said the U.S. does not deliberately target schools or other civilian targets.
“All I can say is we’re investigating that,” Hegseth said Thursday. “We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.”
Iranian Press Center / AFP via Getty Images
Mourners dig graves during the funeral for children killed in an airstrike on a primary school in Iran’s Hormozgan province on March 3, 2026. (Photo by Iranian Press Center / AFP via Getty Images)
The New York Times earlier reported that satellite imagery, social media posts and verified videos shows the school was attacked at the same time as the U.S. struck a nearby naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The timing and similar nature of the attack on the school suggests U.S. forces were responsible for both strikes.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, denounced the attack as “unjustifiable” and “criminal” in a letter to a UN human rights official last weekend.
The United Nations human rights office called for an investigation into the incident, though it did not identify who it believed was responsible.
On Tuesday, thousands of mourners thronged the streets of Minab, a town near the Straits of Hormuz, for the funeral of the victims, most of whom were children.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt have also said the attack is under investigation.
