Pentagon Faces Criticism Over Delayed Response to Iran School Strike

(MENAFN) The Pentagon is facing renewed criticism for declining to accept responsibility for an airstrike on a school in Iran that reportedly killed over 170 people, the majority of them children, despite growing pressure from American lawmakers.

The attack targeted the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in southern Iran on February 28 during the opening phase of the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. Iranian authorities said the strike left 175 dead, most of them schoolchildren.

In the aftermath of the incident, American officials gave differing accounts regarding the source of the attack. President Donald Trump at one point suggested the bombing was “done by Iran.” Later assessments by analysts and various reports indicated the school was most likely struck by a missile manufactured in the United States.

According to reports, an internal military investigation determined that US forces may have relied on “outdated targeting data,” which incorrectly identified the school as part of a nearby naval installation linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Although the Pentagon later upgraded the investigation, officials have continued to say only that the inquiry remains underway.

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, lawmakers questioned Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, urging him to recognize American responsibility and reveal the investigation’s early conclusions.

“It’s been 80 days or thereabouts since the initial bombing campaign that struck the girls’ school. It’s really pretty clear what happened there,” Representative Adam Smith, the leading Democrat on the committee, said.

Smith criticized the Defense Department for what he described as “endless stalling,” arguing that the military had previously acknowledged “these types of mistakes” much sooner, even before completing official investigations.

“Can you at this moment acknowledge that that mistake was made and that we were responsible for it?” Smith asked Cooper. The admiral responded that “the US does not deliberately target civilians” and repeated that the investigation is still in progress.

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