Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- The U.S. military mistakenly struck an Iranian school on Feb. 28, killing 182.
- Outdated intelligence led to the strike intended for a nearby IRGC facility.
- Preliminary findings suggest a U.S. Tomahawk missile hit the school in Minab.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military accidentally struck an Iranian elementary school, in an attack that state media said killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers, likely due to outdated information about a nearby naval base, according to two sources briefed on the preliminary findings of an ongoing military investigation.
The Feb. 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab occurred while the U.S. military was conducting strikes on a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facility, the initial investigation found.
U.S. Central Command created target coordinates for the strike using outdated information provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which contributed to the mistake, the sources briefed on the preliminary findings told CNN.
In response to a request for comment, a Defense Intelligence Agency spokesperson said, "The incident is under investigation; we defer to the Pentagon for further comment." A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command also declined to comment on the preliminary findings, citing the ongoing investigation.
Satellite imagery from 2013 showed that the school and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base were once part of the same compound. But images from 2016 revealed that a fence had been erected to separate the school from the rest of the base, and that a separate entrance to the school had been built. In December 2025, imagery showed dozens of people in the school's courtyard apparently playing.
The New York Times first reported details of the preliminary investigation, which remains ongoing.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was unaware of a New York Times report that an ongoing military investigation had found, at least preliminarily, that the United States was responsible for a deadly strike on a school in southern Iran.
"I don't know about that," Trump said when asked by CNN's Kristen Holmes about the Times story and whether he accepted responsibility.
The initial investigative findings raise additional questions about what led to the strike on the school and who was ultimately responsible.
Multiple sources told CNN the preliminary investigation is consistent with what had become increasingly obvious as new evidence continued to emerge publicly in recent days: The U.S. military conducted the strike.
Video geolocated by CNN as filmed from a nearby construction site and released by Mehr News, a semi-official Iranian news agency, shows a munition that experts said is consistent with an American BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile striking a location inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base on Feb. 28. As the camera pans to the right, a huge plume of smoke can be seen from the direction of the Shajareh Tayyiba school.
Trump had previously asserted that Iran might be to blame for the strike, though when pressed on why no one in his own administration seemed to be publicly supporting that claim, he responded, "Because I just don't know enough about it."
"As the New York Times acknowledges in its own reporting, the investigation is still ongoing," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday the strike will be "thoroughly" investigated, adding the U.S. has "attempted in every way possible to avoid civilian casualties."
He accused Iran, meanwhile, of targeting civilians "indiscriminately."
Missile debris that Iranian officials claim was recovered from the deadly strikes appeared to be from an American Tomahawk cruise missile, a CNN analysis previously found.
Four photographs of the fragments were shared on Telegram by Iran's state broadcaster, IRIB, with the caption claiming they were remnants from the strike. It was not possible to confirm whether the fragments, pictured on a table in front of the ruined school building, were from the school strike, a strike on the neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base or elsewhere.
They do, however, appear to be consistent with a U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missile, according to a CNN review and expert analysis.
The Pentagon classifies the missiles as precision-guided munitions. Multiple buildings at the base appear to have been struck by precision missiles.
Trump pushed back against the suggestion that the U.S. had carried out the strike in a news conference on Monday in which he claimed Iran also had Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, produced by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, are held by only a small group of U.S. allies authorized to purchase them. Even Israel, one of Washington's closest partners, does not possess them, and multiple munitions experts confirmed to CNN that Iran does not have them either.
Contributing: Christian Edwards and Kristen Holmes
