The US armed forces were behind the deadliest strike on a civilian target in the week long attack by the US and Israel on Iran.
However, no party has taken responsibility so far for the incident in which 165 school girls were killed when the school they were attending in the southern Iranian town of Minab was bombed in the initial strike by Israeli and US forces on Iran on Saturaday morning. Many analysts have decried the incident as a war crime.
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In a well-researched article, The New Times Times, writes: But a body of evidence assembled — including newly released satellite imagery, social media posts and verified videos — indicates the school building was severely damaged by a precision strike that occurred at the same time as attacks on an adjacent naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
US forces have admitted that they were targetting naval targets near the Strait of Hormux where the IRGC base is located, suggesting they were most likely to have carried out the strike.
The US response to the deadly civilian targetting has been that it has been investigating the incident.
An attempt by the NYT to get a comment from the White House was met with a referral to comments by press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, at a news conference on Wednesday. When asked if the United States had conducted the airstrike on the school, she responded, “Not that we know of,” adding that “the Department of War is investigating this matter”.
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US officials have neither confirmed nor denied responsibility, since the incident. On Wednesday Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth an investigation was underway. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters on Sunday that “as of now,” he was not aware of any Israeli military operation “in that area” at the time, the New York Times reported.
According to the NYT: “The strikes were first reported on social media shortly after 11:30 am local time. An analysis of those posts — as well as bystander photos and videos captured within an hour of the strikes — helps corroborate that the school was hit at the same time as the naval base. One video, pinpointed by geolocation experts, showed several large plumes of smoke billowing from the area of the base and the school.
The New York Times ordered new satellite imagery from the provider Planet Labs. An image taken on Wednesday further corroborated the chronology.