New video contradicts US claims on Iran school strike

Washington, March 9 (IANS) A newly surfaced video appears to show a US Tomahawk cruise missile striking an Iranian military facility next to an elementary school in the southern town of Minab, adding new questions to competing claims over a deadly attack that reportedly killed scores of civilians, including children.

The footage, first released by Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency and later analysed by investigative researchers and reported by international media outlets including The New York Times and CNN, shows a missile striking a building at a naval facility operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) near the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school.

The strike occurred on February 28 during a wave of attacks in southern Iran as fighting expanded across the region.

According to reporting by The New York Times, the video shows a Tomahawk cruise missile hitting a structure described as a medical clinic inside the IRGC base. Plumes of smoke and debris erupt from the building after the impact.

Satellite imagery and other footage indicate that the nearby school building was also severely damaged during the attack.

An analysis by The New York Times said evidence assembled from the video, satellite imagery and other verified footage suggests the strike at the naval base happened at roughly the same time as the attack that damaged the elementary school, where 175 people, many of them children, were reported killed.

The video was filmed from a construction site opposite the base and shows a dirt path across a grassy area and debris visible in satellite images taken after the strike — details investigators said helped confirm the location.

Investigative group Bellingcat, which examined the footage and geolocated the strike site, said the projectile seen in the video closely matches a Tomahawk cruise missile.

Experts cited in reporting by The New York Times also identified the weapon as a Tomahawk missile, a system used by the United States military.

The United States is the only participant in the conflict known to possess Tomahawk missiles, investigators said.

Asked whether the United States had bombed the school, US President Donald Trump, a day earlier, rejected the allegation.

“No. In my opinion and based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump said. “They’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was examining the incident but defended US conduct.

He said the Pentagon was investigating but added that “the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”

US military officials have acknowledged that American forces were carrying out strikes in southern Iran during the early phase of the conflict.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said US forces were operating along Iran’s southern coast during the opening hours of the campaign.

“Along the southern axis, the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group has continued to provide pressure from the sea along the southeastern side of the coast and has been attriting naval capability all along the strait,” he said.

He also told reporters that “the first shooters at sea were Tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy.”

Tomahawk cruise missiles are long-range precision weapons capable of flying roughly 1,000 miles and are programmed with a specific flight plan before launch. The missiles typically carry warheads containing the explosive power of about 300 pounds of TNT, according to US military descriptions.

The strike near Minab occurred amid a widening conflict involving Iran, the United States, and Israel. The town lies near the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a large share of the world’s oil shipments passes.