President Trump said Wednesday he does not think the U.S. was responsible for an airstrike that killed Iranian school children on the first day of the Middle East conflict.
Mr. Trump strenuously pushed back when a reporter asked him if he had seen a report on the conclusions of an investigation into the bombing.
“I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “There were missiles flying all over the place, and it’s horrible what happened.”
“Somebody said it’s our missile,” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe it wasn’t our missile.”
The elementary school in the town of Minab was struck on Feb. 28, the day Mr. Trump started the attacks.
The strike killed more than 160 people, many of them school children, and video evidence compiled by The New York Times and other outlets suggests American Tomahawk missiles hit a nearby Iranian naval base around the same time.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is taking the review “very seriously” and would release its findings, “whatever that outcome is.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be us,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t think it was us.”
Iranians frequently point to the tragedy as top officials negotiate a final deal to end the war. Leaders in Tehran frequently post messages on social media calling the young girls martyrs and depicting them as guardian angels watching over the country.
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