US responsible for deadly attack on Iranian school: Amnesty International | US-Israel war over Iran news

The rights group says the Tomahawk missile was used in the Minab school strike, which killed at least 170 people, mostly children.

The United States is responsible for an attack on an Iranian elementary school that killed at least 170 people, most of them children, Amnesty International said in a new investigation, demanding accountability for the attack.

A US-made Tomahawk missile was used in the February 28 attack on a school in the southern city of Minab, a rights group said on Monday.

“Tomahawk missiles are used exclusively by US forces in this conflict and are precision-guided missiles,” it said.

Using satellite imagery, video footage and interviews with experts, Amnesty’s investigation showed that the school was a “direct hit” along with a dozen other structures in the adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound.

“This indicates the failure of US forces to take feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm in carrying out the attack, which constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” the organization said.

“The fact that the school building was directly targeted and was previously part of an IRGC compound raises concerns that US forces may have relied on outdated intelligence and failed in their responsibility to do everything practicable to verify that the intended target was a military objective.”

Rights advocates have pointed to the Minab attack as evidence of potential war crimes by Israel and the US in the war against Iran, which legal experts say was launched late last month in violation of international law.

Although Washington has said it is investigating the incident, US President Donald Trump’s administration is facing growing calls to conduct a full investigation and ensure accountability for what happened.

United Nations experts described the school attack as a “serious assault on children”, while US Democratic lawmakers urged the Trump administration to “provide clear answers to the American public and Congress about how and why this tragedy unfolded”.

As the US-Israeli war over Iran continues, experts have warned about comments made by senior US officials that appear to disregard international law.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested earlier this month that Washington would not abide by “stupid rules of deterrence” in its military offensive against Iran.

“America is unleashing the deadliest and most precise air power campaign in history on so-called international organizations,” Hegseth told reporters on March 2.

No silly rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercises, no politically correct wars. We fight to win and we don’t waste time or life.

In a statement on Monday on the Minab attack, Amnesty International said those responsible for planning and carrying out the deadly strike must be held accountable.

Erica Guevara-Rosas, the group’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said that Washington’s failure to identify the building as a school and still go ahead with the strike “suggests complete negligence in the planning of the attack.”

He said it “suggests a shameful intelligence failure on the part of the US military and a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

Alternatively, Guevara-Rosas said the US may have known the school was next to an IRGC compound and proceeded with the attack without taking “all feasible precautions” to minimize civilian casualties.

In that case, the attack “recklessly launched an indiscriminate attack that killed and injured civilians and should be investigated as a war crime,” he said.