President Donald Trump claimed Saturday that Iran was responsible for the devastating bombing of a girls’ elementary school that killed at least 175 people—directly contradicting U.S. military investigators who believe American forces likely carried out the deadly strike.
Speaking aboard Air Force One after attending a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, Trump told reporters that the Feb. 28 attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, was “done by Iran.”
“Based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump said. “We think it was done by Iran, because they’re very inaccurate with their munitions, they have no accuracy whatsoever.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing beside the president, offered a more cautious response when pressed by reporters. “We’re certainly investigating,” Hegseth said. “But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
The strike occurred on the first day of coordinated U.S.-Israeli attacks against Iran, killing dozens of schoolgirls ages 7 to 12 as well as teachers and staff. Footage geolocated by CBS News showed black smoke billowing from a damaged building adorned with murals of crayons, children and an apple. Saturdays are regular school days in Iran.
The president’s assertion stands in stark contrast to findings from U.S. military investigators. Both Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported that unnamed U.S. sources say it’s “likely” that American forces hit the school. A person familiar with the ongoing inquiry told CBS News Friday that U.S. investigators believe the U.S. may have been responsible.
Israeli sources have denied involvement. An Israeli source told CBS News that Israel was not behind the strike and confirmed the Israeli Air Force was not operating near the school. U.S. forces focused on southern Iran during the attacks, while Israel concentrated on northern targets.
CBS News analysis of satellite images provided by Planet Labs shows the girls’ school in Minab was located in close proximity to two sites controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated during a March 4 news briefing that the United States carried out strikes in the vicinity of the school. Caine pointed to a map showing U.S. impacts in the region where the school was struck, describing how the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group had been “attriting naval capability” along Iran’s southeastern coast.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society reports that 10,000 civilian structures have been damaged across Iran in U.S. and Israeli strikes, including almost three dozen medical facilities. Death toll reports have varied, with Iranian state media citing between 165 and 180 people killed at the school—most of them children.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly pushed back against media reports suggesting U.S. responsibility. “This investigation is ongoing. There are no conclusions at this time, and it is both irresponsible and false for anyone to claim otherwise,” Kelly said Friday. “As we have said, unlike the terrorist Iranian regime, the United States does not target civilians.”
The Pentagon has remained largely silent on the incident. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, said only that officials are “aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations” and are “looking into them.”
Trump made his comments after attending the transfer ceremony for six U.S. Army reservists killed in an Iranian drone attack in Kuwait on March 1. The president has offered few details about the scope or duration of the military operation against Iran, which began Feb. 28.
A New York Times investigation found direct video evidence contradicting Trump’s claims. The investigation determined that a U.S. Tomahawk missile damaged the school during an attack on an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps naval base. The U.S. military is the only force in the conflict that operates Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The school building had once been part of the IRGC compound but was walled off and separated from the military complex more than a decade ago, according to multiple investigations by NPR, Al Jazeera and The Guardian. NBC News reported that local officials said the base was abandoned around 15 years ago, with the school being the only operational facility remaining.
Iranian state media identified the building as the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Hormozgan province. The facility served girls ages 7 to 12 in the southern city of Minab. Iranian officials have blamed both the United States and Israel for the deadly strike, which has become the deadliest single incident of the expanding Middle East conflict.