Four months after a US missile strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, killed at least 175 people, mostly children, fears are growing that the Trump administration and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will bury the truth. The attack, one of the deadliest civilian bombings by US forces in decades, occurred on the first day of the war with Iran. A secretive investigation has reportedly concluded, but critics doubt the Pentagon will release its findings, citing a shift in policy under Hegseth that reduces oversight of civilian casualties.
President Donald Trump initially suggested Iran was responsible for the strike, even after it was confirmed that a US-made Tomahawk missile was used. He later dismissed the incident as a mistake, saying during a press conference at the G7 meeting in Évian-les-Bains, 'Nobody did that on purpose.' The back-to-back strikes targeted a school believed by US officials to be an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base, according to anonymous military sources.
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 a second blast after running back to find his sister. Tifakani described identifying their bodies at the morgue, with Sobhan missing an eye and half his face gone. 'Mistakes are made. The war is nasty,' Trump said last week.
Former Pentagon and national security officials expressed doubt that the US government will take responsibility or release the full report. One former senior Pentagon official noted that while there is a clear process for investigating civilian casualties, 'I'm very doubtful that the Hegseth Pentagon will follow through.' Hegseth has shuttered units that review civilian casualty incidents as part of his 'anti-woke' crusade, reducing accountability for combat decisions.
The Minab strike is comparable to past US mass-casualty incidents, such as the 2017 Mosul airstrike that killed over 200 civilians and the 2015 Kunduz hospital bombing. US Central Command declined to provide updates on the investigation, stating, 'We have no updates at this time.'
