An ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to US officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings.
The February 28th strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh primary school building was the result of a targeting mistake by the US military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part, the preliminary investigation found.
Officers at US Central Command created the target co-ordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, people briefed on the investigation said.
Officials emphasised that the findings are preliminary and that there are important unanswered questions about why the outdated information had not been double checked.
Striking a school full of children is sure to be recorded as one of the most devastating single military errors in recent decades. Iranian officials have said the death toll was at least 175 people, most of them children.
While the overall finding was largely expected – the United States is the only country involved in the conflict that uses Tomahawk missiles – it has already cast a shadow on the US military operation in Iran.
US president Donald Trump’s attempts to sidestep the blame for the strike have also already complicated the inquiry, leaving officials who have reviewed the findings showing US culpability expressing unease.
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The people interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation and Trump’s assertion at one point that Iran, not the United States, was responsible.
“As The New York Times acknowledges in its own reporting, the investigation is still ongoing,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
People briefed on the investigation said many questions were yet to be answered around why outdated information was used and who failed to verify the data.
Still, the error has not surprised current and former officials.
The school, in the town of Minab, is on the same block as buildings used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Naval Service, a top target of the US military strikes. The site of the school was originally part of the base.
Officials briefed on the inquiry said the building was not always used as a school, though it is not clear precisely when the school opened on the site.
The building housing the school had been fenced off from the military base between 2013 and 2016.
Satellite imagery shows that watchtowers that once stood near the building had been removed, three public entrances were opened to the school, ground was cleared and play areas including a sports field were painted on asphalt, and walls were painted blue and pink.
The “target coding” provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the military intelligence agency that helps develops targets, labelled the school building as a military target when it was passed to Central Command, the military headquarters overseeing the war, according to people briefed on the preliminary findings of the investigation.
Investigators do not yet fully understand how the outdated data was sent to Central Command or whether the Defense Intelligence Agency had updated information.
A video uploaded on Sunday by Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency shows a Tomahawk cruise missile striking the naval base beside the school in Minab on February 28th.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials have declined to comment on the strike, other than to say it is under investigation. Despite that, the president has tried at times to put the blame on Iran.
“In my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday, as Hegseth stood beside him, adding: “They’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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