President Donald Trump said overnight Wednesday to Thursday that it may never be clear who was responsible for a deadly strike on a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, on the first day of Operation "Roaring Lion." He told reporters, "I don't know if they ever solve this problem," and added that rockets were flying everywhere, so it was impossible to know for sure what happened. Trump said, "Somebody said it was our missile. Maybe it was not our missile, but I didn't see anything that would make me believe it was," and concluded, "I don't think it was us."
The strike on February 28 came as the United States and Israel began bombing Iran. Iranian officials said more than 175 girls and teachers were killed. In March, Reuters reported that an initial internal U.S. military review found American forces were likely responsible for the attack in southern Iran, possibly because of outdated targeting data. The Pentagon later broadened the inquiry but has not endorsed the preliminary findings.
The attack drew global outrage. The U.N. human rights office called it "utterly horrific." U.S. officials publicly said Washington does not intentionally target schools. Trump had initially blamed Iran without evidence, but later said he did not know enough, that an investigation was under way, and that no one had intentionally struck the school.
Additional reporting raised conflicting explanations. The Washington Post cited sources saying the structure had been identified as a factory and approved as a target, while another source said there was an arms depot in the area and it was unclear whether the school was hit by mistake or whether intelligence confused it with that depot. Israel said it had no role in the strike and, according to two Israeli officials cited by the Post, the target was not reviewed or discussed with the IDF beforehand. A video published by the Iranian outlet Mehr and later verified by The New York Times appears to show a U.S. Tomahawk missile hitting the compound. Satellite analysis by the Post said the school had once been part of an Iranian naval base, later walled off in 2015 and given separate entrances between mid-2015 and early 2016.
