Nearly four months after a US Tomahawk cruise missile struck a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing at least 175 people, mostly children, the Pentagon has yet to release findings from its investigation. Critics fear the Trump administration, under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, may bury the results to avoid accountability.
The attack occurred on the first day of the US-Iran war, with back-to-back strikes on the school. Witnesses reported that a second missile killed a boy who had survived the first blast and returned to search for his sister. Donald Trump initially suggested Iran was responsible, but later acknowledged it might have been a mistake, saying, 'Nobody did that on purpose.'
Mohammadreza Ahmadi Tifakani lost two children in the bombing. His seven-year-old daughter Hanieh was killed instantly, while his ten-year-old son Sobhan died in the second explosion. 'I personally went to the morgue and identified both of them,' he said. 'Sobhan was missing an eye, and half of his face was gone.'
Former Pentagon officials doubt the US will take responsibility or release the full report. One former senior official noted that while there is a clear process for investigating civilian casualties, they are 'very doubtful that the Hegseth Pentagon will follow through.' Hegseth has reduced oversight units as part of an 'anti-woke' agenda, potentially making it easier to avoid blame.
The incident ranks among the deadliest US mass-casualty events in recent decades, comparable to the 2017 Mosul airstrike and the 1991 Amiriyah shelter bombing. Trump, celebrating a ceasefire deal, dismissed questions about the investigation, saying, 'It's such a strange question to be asked at this date.'
