Trump says Iran school strike still under investigation after deadly attack

More than 100 days after U.S. airstrikes destroyed Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Donald Trump said the bombing was still under investigation even as he insisted “nobody” purposefully attacked the girls’ school. The strike hit the school in Hormozgan province on Feb. 28, 2026, the first day of the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran, around 10:45 a.m. local time, while classes were underway.

Iranian officials said the attack killed more than 175 children and teachers. Sky News later said it verified the identities of 146 dead, including 120 students ages 6 to 13 and 26 teachers, underscoring the scale of the casualties at a single elementary school. The school was in Minab, a city in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, an area that observers said sat close to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval facilities.

The case has become a test of how the U.S. military handles civilian-casualty reviews when operations go wrong. An initial internal U.S. military probe indicated that U.S. forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike, and the Pentagon later elevated the inquiry after those reports circulated. U.S. officials have not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the deaths or released a report on the findings.

The wider war left a broader trail of damage across Iran. Amnesty International said at least 66 schools across the country had been damaged or destroyed by March 7, 2026, only days after the operation began. The organization said the strike occurred amid widespread harm to civilian infrastructure, while staff at the Minab school began calling parents shortly before impact in an effort to get children home. Many families arrived too late.

International pressure has mounted as well. UNESCO condemned the bombing as a grave violation of humanitarian law, and eight United Nations experts called for an independent investigation into the strike. The political fallout has now reached Washington, where Senate lawmakers have moved to freeze much of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget unless the Pentagon turns over more information about the school bombing probe and related strike footage.

What began as a battlefield strike has turned into an accountability fight over civilian protection, military transparency and the consequences of killing children in a war zone.