Investigation further suggests it was the US that struck an Iranian
school, killing 165
[March 09, 2026]
By JULIA FRANKEL
JERUSALEM (AP) — The investigative group Bellingcat says newly released
video “appears to contradict” U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that
Iran was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian school that killed
over 165 people at the start of the war raging in the Mideast.
It comes as mounting evidence points to U.S. culpability for the Feb. 28
strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base in
Minab, Iran, in the country's southern Hormozgan Province. Experts
interviewed by The Associated Press, citing satellite image analysis,
say the school was likely struck amid a quick succession of bombs
dropped on the compound.
The video shared by Bellingcat is a three-second clip of a video taken
the day the school was struck and circulated Sunday by Iran's
semiofficial Mehr news agency. The video shows a munition falling on a
building, sending a dark plume into the air that mingles with smoke that
likely came from earlier strikes on the compound. Trevor Ball, a
Bellingcat researcher, geolocated the video to a site near the school,
something also done by the AP.
Ball identified the munition as a Tomahawk cruise missile — which only
the U.S. is known to possess in this war. It's the first evidence of a
munition used in the strike.
Complicating any assessment of the incident is the lack of images of
bomb fragments from the blast. No independent agency has reached the
site during the war to investigate.
When asked by a reporter Saturday whether the U.S. was responsible for
the blast, which killed mostly children, Trump responded, without
providing evidence: “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that
was done by Iran.” Trump added that Iran is “very inaccurate” with their
munitions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly chimed in to say the
U.S. was investigating.
Several factors point to a U.S. strike.
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Rescue workers and residents search through the rubble in the
aftermath of what Iranian officials said was an Israeli-U.S. strike
on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28,
2026. (Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News Agency via AP)
One is the launching of an assessment of the incident by the U.S.
military. According to the Pentagon’s instructions on processes for
mitigating civilian harm, an assessment is launched after a group of
investigators make an initial determination that the U.S. military
may bear culpability. A U.S. official told the AP that the strike
was likely U.S. The official spoke anonymously because they were not
authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter.
Another is the location of the school — next to the Revolutionary
Guard base and close to barracks for a naval unit. The U.S. military
has focused on naval targets and acknowledged strikes in the
province, including one in the vicinity of the school.
Israel, which has denied conducting the strike, has focused on areas
of Iran closer to Israel and hasn’t reported any strikes south of
Isfahan, 800 kilometers (500 miles) away. The U.S. is operating
warships in the Arabian Sea, including the USS Abraham Lincoln
aircraft carrier, within range of the school.
Neither the U.S. military's Central Command nor the Israeli military
immediately replied to requests for comment Monday from the AP on
Bellingcat's analysis.
___
Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed
to this report.
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