Four months after a US missile strike on a girls' school in Minab, Iran, killed at least 175 people, critics fear the Pentagon will bury the truth. The investigation's transparency is questioned amid concerns over new rules of engagement and reduced civilian oversight.
The incident raises critical questions about military accountability, transparency in wartime investigations, and the potential for civilian casualties to be overlooked or concealed, particularly under new leadership prioritizing "warfighting" over scrutiny.
Four months after a US missile strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, killed at least 175 people, concerns are mounting that the Pentagon may conceal the truth about the incident. Critics doubt that the military will provide answers or may classify the results to hide mistakes.
The attack occurred on the first day of the war, and the Pentagon has yet to release findings from its investigation. This secretive inquiry has become a focal point for evaluating Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's new approach to combat, which he describes as designed to "unleash American power, not shackle it."
Initially, Donald Trump suggested the attack was carried out by Iran or that Iran possessed US-made Tomahawk missiles, which it does not. Later, while celebrating a ceasefire deal, Trump downplayed the incident, stating, "But nobody did that on purpose." The "double tap" strikes, which primarily killed children under 12, reportedly targeted a site believed to be an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base.
Mohammadreza Ahmadi Tifakani, who lost his seven-year-old daughter Hanieh and ten-year-old son Sobhan in the bombing, expressed his grief and disillusionment with the prospect of accountability. "Mistakes are made," Trump remarked, acknowledging the war's brutality.
Former Pentagon and national security officials have voiced skepticism about the US government taking responsibility or releasing a full report. One former senior Pentagon official doubted that the "Hegseth Pentagon" would follow established procedures for investigating and assessing accountability for civilian harm.
Under Hegseth's "anti-woke" initiatives, units responsible for reviewing civilian casualty incidents have been reduced or closed, potentially making it easier to avoid blame. This situation is compared to other major civilian casualty incidents in past US wars, such as the 2017 Mosul airstrike and the 2015 Kunduz hospital bombing.
While Trump stated the investigation is ongoing, US Central Command offered no updates. Media reports suggest preliminary findings point to the use of outdated targeting data from seven years prior, which failed to identify the building next to an IRGC base as a girls' school. An analyst had reportedly alerted a colleague years ago about the potential targeting of what had become a school, but the data was not updated.
Iranian-American Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari criticized the strike as part of an "illegal Trump war in Iran" and stated she received little response from the administration when demanding answers. She accused Trump of hiding the truth and deflecting blame to Hegseth.
Former Pentagon targeting expert Wes Bryant believes Hegseth and Trump will attempt to suppress the investigation's findings, suggesting that only a whistleblower might bring the full details to light. He characterized the strikes as indicative of "pure negligence and recklessness" and a degradation of culture at senior military leadership levels.