An ongoing military investigation is pointing toward the U.S. being responsible for a missile strike that hit an Iranian elementary school on the first day of Operation Epic Fury.
According to multiple reports, a Feb. 28 Tomahawk strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeb elementary school building was the result of targeting mistakes by U.S. Central Command and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
“Officials emphasized that the findings are preliminary and that there are important unanswered questions about why the outdated information had not been double-checked,” The New York Times reported.
The school is located in Minab, a city in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan. It is about 50 miles east of a major naval base in Bandar Abbas overlooking the Strait of Hormuz.
More critically, it’s adjacent to the Sayyid al-Shuhada military complex, which serves as headquarters for the Asif Brigade of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon would only say its inquiry was ongoing.
Bellingcat, a Dutch-based investigative journalism group that specializes in open-source intelligence, said it has confirmed a video uploaded by Iran’s state-owned Mehr News Agency that shows a U.S. Tomahawk missile striking the school.
“The U.S. is the only participant in the war that is known to have Tomahawk missiles. Israel is not known to have Tomahawk missiles,” Bellingcat said in a report this week.
The missile strike killed at least 175 people, mostly schoolchildren.
President Trump initially denied any U.S. involvement in the incident and pointed the finger at Tehran.
“We think it was done by Iran, because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” he said, speaking to reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One.
On Wednesday, President Trump seemed to walk back his explicit denial, saying he wasn’t aware of the preliminary investigation.
“I don’t know about it,” Mr. Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.
One of the president’s strongest allies on Capitol Hill said he also believes the U.S. was responsible for the missile strike. Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, described the incident as a “terrible mistake.”
“We’re investigating, but I’m not going to hide behind that,” he said this week on CNN’s “The Arena.” “I think that it was a terrible, terrible mistake.”
Mr. Kennedy did not say if he received any information unavailable to the public.
“The investigation may prove me wrong. I hope so [but] the kids are still dead,” he said. “I wish it hadn’t happened. I’m sorry it happened.”
The only possible explanation is that the missile strike was a mistake, Mr. Kennedy said.
“When you make a mistake, you ought to admit it,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Most people understand that no one’s perfect. I don’t think our men and women who are fighting for us did it intentionally. I’ll never believe that.”
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.