Trump Blamed Iran for Killing 168 Schoolgirls. Here Are the Facts.
The evidence points to American strikes targeting the school, whilst Trump blames Iran.
On Saturday, 28 February 2026, a girls' primary school in Minab, a city in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, was struck during the first wave of US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran. The Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school was full of pupils aged 7 to 12. Iranian authorities reported at least 168 people killed, the majority of them children. Neither the United States nor Israel claimed responsibility. On 7 March 2026, President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that, in his view, Iran was responsible for the strike on its own school.
Donald Trump said, without citing evidence, that he believes the strike was “done by Iran” because “they’re very inaccurate with their munitions.” CBS News Hegseth flanked him, saying the Pentagon was “investigating” while claiming “the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
Key Fact #1: The Pentagon Contradicts Trump
Reuters, citing two unnamed US officials, reported that US military investigators believe it is “likely” that American forces were responsible for the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab. Yahoo!
Source: Reuters exclusive, March 5, 2026
Key Fact #2: The NYT Visual Investigation Points to the US
The New York Times concluded that US forces were “most likely to have carried out the strike,” given that American forces were simultaneously bombarding an adjacent IRGC naval base. The Times also rejected the claim that an Iranian missile hit the elementary school. Common Dreams
Wes J. Bryant, a former US Air Force targeting expert, reviewed the imagery and concluded the buildings, including the school, were hit with “picture-perfect” target strikes, Common Dreams
Source: New York Times, March 5, 2026
Key Fact #3: The Strike Was Precision, Not “Inaccurate” Directly Contradicting Trump’s Framing
Experts speaking to NPR corroborated the airstrike’s precision. Researchers at Oregon State University’s Conflict Ecology Laboratory noted the detonation centroids were “pretty clean.” Satellite imagery specialist Jeffrey Lewis agreed the airstrikes were precision strikes. Wikipedia
This destroys Trump’s specific claim - that Iran was responsible because it is “inaccurate with munitions.” The evidence shows the opposite: these were precision-guided munitions, consistent with US/Israeli capabilities, not an errant Iranian missile.
Key Fact #4: Geographic Logic Rules Out Iran, Points to the US
According to satellite imagery analysis, the US primarily targeted military bases and missile launchers in southern and central Iran, while Israel focused its operations in the north. Minab’s location in the south, near the Strait of Hormuz, places it within the US military’s primary area of operations and lines up with other US strikes on the Bandar Abbas Naval Base about 80km west of Minab, and facilities in Konarak 400km to the southeast. Wikipedia
CBS News reported Friday that Israel was not operating in the area, with an Israeli source confirming the Israeli Air Force was not conducting operations near the school. CBS News
Key Fact #5: The School Had Been Clearly Civilian for a Decade
Reports from New Lines Magazine and Al Jazeera determined that the girls’ school had been “clearly separate” from the adjacent military site for at least 10 years. Historical satellite imagery shows the school building was part of the IRGC compound in 2013 but had been walled off and converted by September 2016, bearing clear hallmarks of a civilian educational facility including a sports field and children’s murals. Yahoo!
Under international humanitarian law, this means anyone with credible targeting intelligence should have known it was a civilian school. Beth Van Schaack, a former State Department official now at Stanford’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice, told the Times that “given the US’ intelligence capabilities, they should have known that a school was in the vicinity.” Common Dreams
Key Fact #6: The “Iran Admitted It” Claim Is Deliberate Disinformation
Some posts falsely claimed Iranian authorities took responsibility, an admission that never occurred. The fabricated claim originated from a Telegram channel called “Radio Gilan,” whose operators have previously shared posts sympathetic to Reza Pahlavi (the exiled Shah’s son), who has expressed support for Trump’s operation in Iran. Yahoo!
The IRGC’s own verified official Telegram channel, Sepah News, captioned its post on the destruction: “The situation of Minab Girls’ School after the crime committed by the Zionist-American enemy.” Yahoo!
Key Fact #7: UN and International Community Demanding Accountability
UN human rights chief Volker Türk and Human Rights Watch have both called for an independent investigation. HRW’s executive director Omar Shakir stated: “From the killing of over 150 students and teachers to strikes on hospitals full of newborns, every day more evidence emerges pointing to the commission of grave war crimes in Iran.” Al Jazeera
UNICEF confirmed 168 girls were killed in the Minab strike, and warned that at least 20 schools and 10 hospitals across Iran had reportedly been damaged across the broader campaign. Iran International
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This government and Israel must think we have short memories. This is coming out of the same playbook that happened in Gaza. Did Iran bomb the school a second time when the ambulances and medics arrived too? We will investigate and then we won't. Israel said Hamas bombed their own hospital. Then proceeded to bomb all the hospitals, schools and mosques, not to mention murdering every journalist they could.
Praying for peace before the monsters destroy the world.