Mangled missile fragments purporting to be from the deadly strikes that hit a naval base and elementary school in southern Iran on February 28th bear the markings of a US cruise missile, according to new photos.
Images of the fragments were posted to Telegram by Iran’s state broadcaster and were characterised as showing “the remains of the American missile that landed on the children of Minab school”.
The debris is displayed on a table near the shell of the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, most of which was destroyed in a “precision” strike. At least 175 people, most of them children, were reportedly killed.
While it is not clear where or how the fragments were recovered – or whether they pertain specifically to the school strike – they contain serial numbers and other details that are consistent with how the US department of defence and its suppliers categorise and label munitions.
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The remnants appear to be from a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile manufactured in 2014 or later.
Evidence has been mounting that the school was hit during a series of US strikes targeting an adjacent naval base.
On Sunday, a video was uploaded by Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency, that the New York Times and other outlets identified as a Tomahawk cruise missile striking a medical building in the naval base. The Pentagon categorises the Tomahawk as a precision-guided munition.
The US defence department released videos of US navy warships firing Tomahawks at Iran on February 28th, the first day of the strikes, and the day the school was hit, and Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, said in two separate appearances last week that navy-launched Tomahawks were used to attack targets along Iran’s southern coast during the opening hours of the war.
On Saturday, US president Donald Trump made the assertion that the school was hit by Iran, without offering any proof. On Monday, he again posited that scenario.
“Iran also has some Tomahawks,” he said in response to questions from a reporter at a news conference. “As you know, numerous other nations have Tomahawks. They buy them from us.”
In fact, Iran has no Tomahawks. Any country the US has sold Tomahawks to would have to obtain authorisation from the US state department before transferring them to a third party, such as Iran.
Trump added he was made aware that the Minab incident was under investigation and that whatever the results of that show he was “willing to live with it”.
Besides the United States, only two countries are known to have Tomahawk missiles: Australia and Britain. Two additional countries have agreed to purchase them – Japan in 2024, and the Netherlands in 2025.
In October, Trump openly mused about providing Tomahawks to Ukraine, but never followed through on the idea.
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Even if Iran were able to somehow obtain a Tomahawk, it lacks the technical equipment and capabilities that are used to programme their flight paths and upload that data into the missile’s on-board computer. Iran would also have to be in possession of a launcher capable of firing a Tomahawk without damaging it.
Iran has produced two models of cruise missiles for attacking land-based targets. But both of those weapons have design features that visually set them apart from a Tomahawk, even when viewed from a distance.
In the photos of the weapons debris, one remnant is marked “SDL ANTENNA”, or satellite data link antenna, part of a communications system installed in more modern versions of the Tomahawk. A number unique to department of defence contracts indicates that the component was supplied to the US military as part of a 2014 order. The name of Ball Aerospace Technologies, a weapons manufacturer based in Boulder, Colorado, that was acquired by BAE in 2024, is imprinted on the part.
Another remnant is stamped with “Made in USA” and bears the name of Globe Motors, an Ohio-based manufacturer. According to the official open-data source for American federal government spending, the company has been awarded millions of dollars in department of defence contracts for components, including the actuator motors used to move the guidance fins that steer Tomahawk missiles.
The photos match remnants documented in Tomahawk missile attacks in previous conflicts, including the Globe Motors component, as well as a circuit board, both photographed in Yemen, and archived by the Open Source Munitions Portal, a database of weapon fragments found in conflict zones. A similar Globe Motors component has also been found in Syria.
Trevor Ball, a former US army explosive ordnance disposal technician who works with the research collective Bellingcat, also identified the components as being part of a Tomahawk missile. He has identified similar missile remnants photographed at other attack sites in Iran since the start of the Israeli-US war.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
