Video shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting the Iranian naval base next to a primary school in Minab, killing more than 168 people, mostly children, adding to evidence that the US was responsible for the attack on the school.
The video, published by the Iranian news agency Mehr and geolocated at the scene by the research collective Bellingcat, shows the missile hitting the Minab complex on the morning of February 28, when the US-Israeli attacks against Iran began.
Combined with other evidence from the site, including videos verified by The Guardian, photographs of the aftermath and satellite images of the attack, the new images indicate that the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School was hit during a series of strikes by the United States, while targeting an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval complex.
The attack demolished about half of the school and killed dozens of girls between the ages of seven and 12 who were attending morning classes.
The evidence directly contradicts US President Donald Trump’s statements on Sunday that Iran was responsible for the school attack. “In my opinion, from what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump said, without offering any evidence for his claim. “As you know, they are very inaccurate with their ammunition. They have no precision at all. It was made by Iran.”
Munitions experts say the missile shown in the video is clearly a Tomahawk, which is only used by the United States in the current conflict.
“The video shows a Tomahawk missile attacking a target. Given the belligerents, that indicates it is a US attack, as Israel is not known to possess Tomahawk missiles,” said NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, an intelligence consultancy that provides munitions analysis to governments and NGOs.
He added: “Despite several claims circulating online, the munition in question is clearly not an Iranian soumar missile (as) the soumar has a distinctive external motor located towards the rear, at the bottom of the munition.”
Satellite images of the aftermath of the bombing show that at least four buildings were hit by the attacks: the school and three buildings in the IRGC compound.
While the primary school building was once part of the broader IRGC complex, it had been walled off from the IRGC complex for at least eight years and had clear signs of being an educational building: its playing fields and colorful murals were visible on satellite images.
US military spokesmen have said they are “investigating” the attack. UNESCO has described the school bombing as a “serious violation” of international law, and Human Rights Watch has called for it to be investigated as a war crime.
