US Likely Responsible for Bombing Girls’ School in Iran
Via the NYT: Analysis Suggests School Was Hit Amid U.S. Strikes on Iranian Naval Base.
The Feb. 28 strike that hit an elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab is the deadliest known episode of civilian casualties since the United States and Israel attacked Iran — and no side has yet taken responsibility.
But a body of evidence assembled by The New York Times — including newly released satellite imagery, social media posts and verified videos — indicates the school building was severely damaged by a precision strike that occurred at the same time as attacks on an adjacent naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
And official statements that U.S. forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where the I.R.G.C. base is located, suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.
Via Reuters: Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say.
U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children on Saturday but have not yet reached a final conclusion or completed their investigation, two U.S. officials told Reuters.
[…]
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, did not rule out the possibility that new evidence could emerge that absolves the U.S. of responsibility and points to another responsible party in the incident.
Reuters could not determine how much longer the investigation would last or what evidence U.S. investigators are seeking before the assessment can be completed.
The girls’ school in Minab, in southern Iran, was hit on Saturday during the first day of U.S. and Israeli attacks on the country. Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said the strike killed 150 students. Reuters could not independently confirm the death toll.
This should be a reminder that raining down death from the skies does not end up killing only “bad guys” and that undertaking this kind of operation, even with clear goals and objectives, is going to cost a lot of innocent lives. Such results are made all the worse when it is not clear what the ultimate goals are in this conflict, nor if there is any understanding of its consequences.
Of course, Trump blames Iran, but in the clip, it is noteworthy that Hegseth didn’t confirm that assertion, but noted there was an investigation.
But, of course, we have already seen via ICE raids and detention facilities what this administration thinks about anyone they deem as unimportant or undesirable. They treat immigrants as inferior, most especially non-whites, but are even willing to kill white citizens if they are found to be sufficiently annoying.
As such, it is no surprise that a bunch of foreigners on the other side of the world don’t really count.
Heck, just ask Stephen Miller:
Or Hegseth:
We have decided, it seems, that all we need to know about military action is what Rush Limbaugh used to say about the military: it exists to “kill people and break things,” and so that is what we are doing in Iran, and the aftermath can just sort itself out.
And here I thought the trump pandemic would be the historical low point of my lifetime…
Indifference to civilian deaths is a fact not lost on people in Iran and the rest of the region. But it’s not new, just exaggerated in the case of these psychopaths.
How many Iraqis died in the wake of the US invasion and occupation? Most Americans probably couldn’t tell you. (Hint: estimates are in the hundreds of thousands.) Unless there’s a conspicuously horrific incident like the school bombing, the US media seem unwilling to talk about likely civilian casualties at all, while we’re hyper-focused on American casualties that you can count on your fingers. (No, the press doesn’t have the numbers. But talking about the inevitable fact of these casualties is something the talking heads surely can do.)
To the extent that people in the Middle East have even more reasons to be angry at the United States, in this case because of depraved indifference to the death and maiming we inflict, this is a national security problem. Both the incumbent regime and the American public share the burden for this problem.
On Wednesday morning, Hegseth’s answer to questions about the strike on the girls’ school was unconvincing — “We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.” He should have been able to say that an investigation had been opened, or was ongoing, but instead led with the weasel-worded “we’re taking a look.” And note that some news organizations had already reported facts that pointed to the US, such as other US strikes taking place at that time in that area, and the school strike similarly appearing to be the result of precision guided munitions.
But since trump proclaimed yesterday, “It was done by Iran,” can the official results of the investigation say otherwise? Perhaps the Pentagon won’t go so far as to officially conclude that, but maybe now the results of the investigation will be inconclusive, or delayed indefinitely.
@Eusebio:
We will see the results of this investigation around the same time we get an official accounting of the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
@Eusebio:
I saw that, and my reflex reaction was, ‘of course we did it.’
Three more years of this constant deceit and deception.
As the kids say…
In our name kids in schools are being bombed, war crimes are being commited, a war is underway for no legitimate reason, when intelligence says the is very little chance of the stated goals being achieved, American citizens are being murdered, or locked in hellish concentration camps, measles are being spread and the economy is being battered.
Infrastructure is not being built or improved, education is not being improved and the environment is being degraded.
Who in the f voted for this?!?
The Pentagon investigators should have no trouble finding answers — they simply need to question Maven and Claude. This duo has their noses in just about everything, and should be very good at recalling details. From the WaPo on 3/4/2026,
As reported, Claude had different ideas about the direction of their collaboration, which has led to Claude being kicked out. But until the Pentagon finds a new partner for Maven, this duo will keep doing what they’re doing, whatever the hell that is.