Key facts
- A US missile strike on a school in Minab, Iran, killed over 150 people, including at least 123 children.
- An AI 'kill chain' and a cascade of preventable failures contributed to the strike, according to a joint investigation.
- Pentagon officials cited an overreliance on AI with outdated targeting data and a lack of human oversight.
- The UN found the U.S. failed in its obligation to verify the school was a military target, calling it a war crime.
- The U.S. has not publicly accepted responsibility for the school strike.
A US missile strike on a school in Minab, Iran, on February 28, resulted in the deaths of over 150 people, including at least 123 children, according to a joint investigation by Bloomberg and the Los Angeles Times. Officials involved in a Pentagon internal probe described the incident as a "cascade of preventable failures" stemming from an overreliance on artificial intelligence, outdated targeting data, and a lack of human oversight.
The investigation found that within hours of the attack, some Pentagon personnel were aware of U.S. responsibility. The strikes, which involved two Tomahawk missiles, hit the two-story school located on land that was part of a military compound. This event has been described as the deadliest American military targeting error of the 21st century in terms of child casualties.
The United Nations' Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran stated that the U.S. "failed in its obligation to do everything feasible to verify" the site was a military target, and that this failure "went beyond negligence," amounting to war crimes. The U.S. Department of Defense has declined to comment on the UN report.
While the U.S. has not publicly accepted responsibility, President Trump has previously attributed blame to Tehran. Officials involved in the Pentagon's investigation indicated that the strike was not the result of a single decision but an accumulation of smaller ones, exacerbated by compressed timelines for target finalization due to an "overwhelming aerial assault" demand from the Trump administration. Gaps in site information, cuts in civilian protection personnel, and the reliance on AI technology were cited as contributing factors. The full Pentagon investigation report has not yet been released.