Minab School Strike: Will the Truth Ever Come Out?

In a recent BBC News report, the investigative podcast The Global Story travelled to southern Iran to ask a question that has haunted the US-Iran war for five months: who struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, and will the truth ever come out?

Minab's Silent Reckoning: Five Months On, Washington Still Won't Answer for the School Strike

London – 3 August 2026 — The BBC's Global Story this week brings new testimony from Minab, the southern Iranian town where 120 children died when their school was struck in the opening hours of the US-Israel war. Survivors, teachers and bereaved parents are still waiting for Washington to formally accept responsibility, even as munitions experts, satellite imagery and debris analysis point to an American Tomahawk missile. In the US capital, the BBC's State Department correspondent pressing the Pentagon for answers has been met with general statements about ongoing reviews — while in Hormozgan province, the families of the dead continue to bury what the rubble gives back. A UN investigation opened in March remains unresolved, and human rights groups say the strike may constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law.

Five Months On, a School and a Silence

The BBC's senior international investigations correspondent, Nawal Al-Maghafi, has just returned from Minab, a date-palm town in Hormozgan province on the northern shore of the Strait of Hormuz. What she found there, five months after the strike, is a community still excavating its dead and still waiting for an admission that has never come.

Al-Maghafi met survivors and the families of the 120 children killed. The atmosphere in Minab remains one of raw grief mixed with quiet defiance. Residents described how the July recovery of 32 students' remains through DNA testing finally allowed some closure, with those fragments buried on 22 July at Minab Hermud cemetery. Yet the case of seven-year-old Makan Nasiri stands apart: his remains were never recovered, leaving his family with only a glass display case holding his bloodstained sweater and single shoe.

The BBC State Department correspondent Tom Bateman conducted a parallel quest in Washington for answers from US officials. Five months after the attack, the US government has still not formally accepted responsibility. Officials offered only general statements about ongoing reviews, leaving families in Minab without the acknowledgment they seek.

The Strike: A Triple Tap in the Morning Rush

On 28 February, in the opening hours of the first day of the US-Israel war against Iran, the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school was destroyed. Saturday is a working day in Iran, and the strikes that morning coincided with the hour when parents walk their children to class.

The school served boys and girls on separate floors. Teachers and the principal stayed inside to escort children out when the first missile hit. Strikes occurred between 10:23 and 10:45 a.m., with three strikes total — the "triple tap" confirmed by Minab's mayor, the Iranian Ministry of Education, and BBC Verify satellite analysis. The second strike hit the prayer room where the principal had moved students after the first explosion.

One hundred fifty-six civilians were killed, including 120 schoolchildren — 73 boys and 47 girls — along with 26 women teachers, seven parents, a school bus driver, a pharmacy technician, and a six-month-old fetus. The roof collapsed on students, destroying at least half of the two-story building. The school stood adjacent to the Sayyid al-Shuhada military complex, headquarters of the Asif Brigade of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, but had been walled off since 2016 with three separate entrances and no military checkpoints. The Guardian found no indication the building served a military purpose; adjacent structures included a medical clinic and pharmacy.

The Weapon: A Tomahawk Only Washington Flies

Experts say the school was hit by a precision-guided Tomahawk missile — a weapon neither Israel nor Iran are known to possess. Sky News Data & Forensics analysis by munitions expert N.R. Jenzen-Jones identified the munition by its distinctive wings, stating that given the belligerents, it indicates a US strike. Bellingcat and BBC Verify geolocated Mehr News footage showing a UGM-109 Tomahawk striking near the school, confirmed by eight munition experts including Sam Lair and Wes Bryant.

IRIB photographs of missile fragments, satellite data, and debris analysis consistently identified a Tomahawk. A satellite data link antenna recovered bore the imprint of Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Debris connected to a 2014 US Naval Air Systems Command contract with Raytheon for 231 Tomahawk Block IV missiles. The only party in the conflict known to fly Tomahawks is Washington.

Washington's Response: Investigation, Evasion, and a False Claim

CENTCOM Captain Tim Hawkins acknowledged reports of civilian harm on 1 March. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Pentagon was investigating whether the airstrike was fired by the US and that the United States would not deliberately target a school. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised a thorough probe on 13 March. The Washington Post described this as a tacit acknowledgement of responsibility, with the Defense Department elevating the matter to an administrative "15-6" investigation that could lead to disciplinary action.

President Trump first claimed the strike was done by Iran, a statement PBS fact-checkers rated false. He later said mistakes are made and nobody did that on purpose, adding he would accept the findings of the inquiry. The New York Times reported preliminary findings that the school was likely targeted due to outdated coordinates from the Defense Intelligence Agency. CNN reported in July that military intelligence systems had warned users the target information was outdated, but those warnings were ignored.

Bipartisan pressure for accountability emerged. A group of US senators led by Tammy Baldwin demanded answers. Forty-six mostly Democratic senators, including Brian Schatz, Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Van Hollen, Tim Kaine, and Elizabeth Warren, pressed Trump on the strike. Representative Jason Crow led 120 Democratic congresspersons in similar calls. No Republican senator signed the letters.

The AI Question and the Targeting Process

Operation Epic Fury used the Maven Smart System, an AI tool designed to streamline targeting and capable of producing 1,000 target packages an hour. The US said it struck 6,000 targets in Iran in the first two weeks of the war. Washington Post reporting indicated intelligence had tagged the school as a factory or arms depot. Senators raised concerns about AI tools in targeting and questions of responsibility when such systems are involved.

Al Jazeera's investigation framed the alternatives as either outdated intelligence from before 2013, which would constitute grave negligence, or deliberate targeting for maximum societal shock. The July CNN reporting on ignored warnings highlighted the human failure alongside any machine error. The episode examined how these processes contributed to the outcome in Minab.

Accountability and the International Response

UNESCO called the strike a grave violation of humanitarian law. UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned it. UN human rights chief Volker Türk called for a prompt, impartial investigation. A UN investigation began on 17 March and remains ongoing. Human Rights Watch said the attack should be investigated as a potential war crime, noting the use of precision-guided munitions and no indication the school was used for military purposes. Amnesty International described it as an illegal US attack and demanded that those responsible for planning and execution be held accountable. Malala Yousafzai said she was heartbroken and appalled. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called it a massacre. China's foreign ministry offered condolences and pledged US$200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance to the Iranian Red Cross.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated the American and Zionist aggression against Minab Elementary School will never be erased from the historical memory of the nation. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said crimes against the Iranian people will not go unanswered. In July, UN human rights experts noted that five months after the bombing, the US and Israel had still not released their investigation results, stating justice delayed is justice denied. On 3 March, a mass funeral in Minab drew thousands of mourners, with excavators preparing a hundred or more graves at Minab Hermud cemetery.

Analysis — What the Silence Means

The refusal to formally accept responsibility five months on is unprecedented for a strike of this scale. This could indicate a legal exposure Washington is not prepared to accept, or a political calculation ahead of an election cycle. Analysts suggest the outcome of the internal 15-6 probe will determine whether this becomes a legal reckoning or a footnote in the broader conflict.

The strike has already reshaped how the war is remembered. Iran's football team wore pins with the number 168, and the phrase Minab has become shorthand in the region for civilian cost. The human-rights principle remains straightforward: even if the US did not deliberately target a school, it still had an obligation to take all feasible precautions, and the evidence suggests it did not. The BBC investigation and the ongoing UN process will show whether the truth finally comes out or whether the silence around Minab persists as another unresolved chapter in the US-Iran war.

By Irina Volkov, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Reporting is based on sources cited in the article.