Who carried out airstrike on Iranian school: White House says investigation ongoing

On February 28, a girls' elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab was hit in an airstrike. This marks the deadliest known civilian casualty event since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran – yet no party has claimed responsibility so far.

Iranian health officials and Iranian state media said that the attack resulted in at least 175 fatalities, many of whom were children. It took place on a Saturday, which is the start of the Iranian work week, meaning students and teachers were present in the building.

According to The New York Times and an analysis of multiple pieces of evidence – the school building suffered severe damage from a precision strike, which occurred simultaneously with an attack on a nearby naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The elementary school was verified to be in Minab, a small southern town. It is over 600 miles (966 kilometers) away from Tehran, but its location is near the vital Strait of Hormuz.

US officials have publicly stated that American aircraft were conducting operations in the area at the time of the incident. However, in the days following the attack, US officials neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. At a press conference on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether the United States had carried out the airstrike on the school. "Not that we know of," she replied, adding, "the Department of War is investigating this matter." 

Analysis of visual evidence, according to The New York Times, shows multiple plumes of smoke rising simultaneously from the vicinity of both the naval base and the school shortly after the attack. New satellite images reportedly reveal at least six IRGC base structures, along with the school, were hit by multiple precision strikes. Four buildings within the naval compound were completely destroyed.

Publicly available historical satellite imagery shows the building exhibits typical features of a school, including an athletic field and other recreational areas added over time.

According to The New York Times, Beth Van Schaack, a former State Department official who teaches at Stanford University's Center for Human Rights and International Justice, stated that given the US's intelligence capabilities, they should have known a school was in the vicinity. 

Similarly, Janina Dill, an expert on the laws of war at Oxford University, emphasized that attackers are obligated to "verify the status" of their targets to prevent civilian harm, noting that failure to do so could violate international law.

"The onus is on the forces that carried out ​the attack to investigate ⁠it," UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing in Geneva.

Images of the girls' funeral on Tuesday were shown on Iranian state television. Their small coffins were draped with Iranian flags and passed from a truck across a large crowd towards the grave site.

If it is determined that the school was deliberately targeted or that the attacker failed to distinguish it from the nearby naval base, such an act would likely constitute a war crime under ​international humanitarian law.

(With input from agencies)