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A preliminary inquiry has found that outdated intelligence likely led to a deadly US strike on an Iranian elementary school using a Tomahawk missile, according to a US official and a second person briefed on findings of the US military investigation into the incident.
First reported by the New York Times, the US military was bombing an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part and target coordinates were set using outdated data.
On 28 February, a deadly missile strike hit an elementary school in Iran’s southern city of Minab, killing 165 people, many of them children, in the early days of the ongoing war initiated by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
The bombing of the school and its casualties involving children has become a focal point of the war, and if ultimately confirmed to be at the hands of the US, would also stand among the highest civilian casualty events caused by the American military operations in the last two decades.
US President Donald Trump initially suggested that Iran itself was responsible, despite the country not having Tomahawk missiles.
He later said he could “live with” whatever the investigation reveals but when asked about the Times report Wednesday he told reporters: “I don’t know about it.”
The preliminary finding prompted immediate calls for more information from the Pentagon. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the investigation is still ongoing.”
Evidence mounts pointing to US responsibility
Satellite images, expert analysis, a US official and public information released by the US military all suggested it was likely a US strike.
On Monday, new footage also emerged showing what experts identified as a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile slamming into the military compound as smoke was already rising from the area where the school was located.
Publicly available satellite imagery shows the school building was part of the military compound until about 2017, when a new wall was added to separate the two. A watchtower on the property was also removed.
Around the same time, the imagery shows the walls surrounding the building were painted with murals in vibrant colors, primarily blue and pink.
The school was clearly labelled as such in online maps and has an easily-accessible website full of information about students, teachers and administrators.
International law governing warfare bars strikes on structures, vehicles and people that are not military objectives and combatants. Civilian homes, schools, medical facilities and cultural sites are generally off limits for military strikes.
The proximity of a school to a valid military target does not change its status as a civilian site, said Elise Baker, a senior staff lawyer at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank.
If the US is found responsible, said Senator Tim Kaine during a briefing with journalists on Wednesday: “It’s either we’ve changed our traditional targeting rules or we made a mistake.”
“If we’ve changed our traditional targeting rules and we no longer provide the same level of protection for civilians, that would be tragic,” Kaine said.
Additional sources • AP, AFP