According to the Anadolu Agency, a senior US military official is facing growing criticism after refusing to take responsibility for a devastating strike on a school in Minab, Iran, that reportedly killed 155 people, most of them children, on the very first day of the conflict.…....
At a tense congressional hearing on Tuesday, Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads US Central Command, said the incident is still under investigation and far from being fully understood.
He told lawmakers that “the school itself is located on an active IRGC cruise missile base,” arguing that this overlap has made the inquiry “more complex than the average strike.”
But for many in the room, the explanation did little to ease concerns.
The February 28 strike in Minab, a city in southern Iran, left a trail of devastation. Iranian state media reported that 73 boys, 47 girls, 26 teachers, seven parents, a school bus driver, and another adult were killed when the school was hit.
During the hearing, Representative Adam Smith pushed back strongly, questioning why responsibility had not been acknowledged if the evidence already pointed in a clear direction. “In the past, when we’ve had these types of mistakes, they have been quickly acknowledged, even if a further investigation is necessary,” he said.
Cooper insisted the Pentagon would release its findings once the review is complete. But Smith was unconvinced, responding bluntly: “So that’s a ‘no.’ We will not take responsibility for something we very obviously did.”
The controversy has also reached the political level. Current US President Donald Trump initially suggested that Iran itself could have been behind the attack, claiming there were doubts about the accuracy of Iranian weaponry.
However, international reports, including those from major US media outlets, have suggested the school was struck by a US Tomahawk cruise missile, a weapon Iran does not possess.
As pressure mounts, the Pentagon’s investigation remains ongoing, with no official conclusion yet released, while tensions over accountability continue to grow.
