President Donald Trump has blamed Iran for the deadly airstrike that hit an all-girls’ school on the first day of the war.
While speaking about the US’s attack with Iran on Saturday on board Air Force One, Trump said American troops had nothing to do with the bombing that killed 175 people, mostly children, on February 28.
Children between the ages of seven and 12, along with staff members, were among those who died in the school strike in the Iranian city of Minab.
When asked if the US was behind the attack, Trump told reporters: ‘No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.’
A reporter then turned to US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who stood behind Trump as he spoke, and asked if the president’s claim was true.
‘We’re certainly investigating,’ he said before backing up the commander-in-chief.
‘But, the only side that targets civilians is Iran,’ Hegseth continued before Trump made another comment, doubling down on his claim.
‘We figure it was done by Iran, because they’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran,’ he told the press.
Trump’s claim comes after Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported that the US was ‘likely responsible’ for last week’s strike.
US officials told the WSJ: ‘US military investigators think American forces likely were responsible for a strike that killed dozens of children at a girls’ elementary school in Iran.’
The investigation hasn’t reached a final conclusion, the outlet reported on Friday.
Meanwhile, two other US officials told Reuters the same thing, but the outlet ‘was unable to determine more details about the investigation, including what evidence contributed to the tentative assessment, what type of munition was used, who was responsible or why the US might have struck the school.’
Fox News reporter Laura Ingraham also hit out at the US for reportedly being behind the deadly airstrike.
‘If true, this is horrific news — and the U.S. military will have to address this publicly. Proximity of military compound obviously a factor, but our weapons also have pinpoint accuracy,’ she wrote on X, linking the WSJ article.
The attack stands among the deadliest incidents so far in the US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
Officials said most of the victims were young children, and it remains unclear why the school was hit and which nation fired the airstrike.
During a White House briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the airstrike was not launched by the US ‘that we know of’, and said the ‘Department of War is investigating’ the attack.
Hegseth also addressed the tragedy in a press conference on Wednesday, saying: ‘We of course never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.’
Dramatic images released after the attack showed numerous graves dug up so the victims could be laid to rest.
The school attack has sparked controversy across the world, leaving many upset to hear that young, innocent children were killed.
But on Wednesday, conservative firebrand Matt Schlapp suggested the Iranian schoolgirls would be better off dead than alive and wearing burkas.
Schlapp, the head of the influential Conservative Union advocacy group, made the remark as he appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored last week.
The commentator chimed in as Morgan was arguing with Peter Beinart, editor-at-large at Jewish Currents and a critic of the war, over the fatal airstrike.
While the panel went back-and-forth over who was to blame for the strike, Beinart argued that it did not matter who fired the airstrike, because ‘those girls would still be alive today if the United States and Israel had not launched the attack.’
‘We don’t know who launched the missile. But we know that if the US and Israel had not attacked a country that poses no serious threat to them – Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons, America has thousands – that those girls would be alive,’ Beinart said.
As Morgan started to respond, Schlapp interrupted to state that he believed the girls were better off dead.
‘They’d be alive in a burka,’ Schlapp said. ‘This is… a barbaric society.’
Schlapp, whose Conservative Union runs the prominent annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), appeared to confuse the restrictive policies toward women in Iran.
Women and girls under the regime are required to wear a hijab, which covers the head and neck, but are not required to wear a burka, which covers the entire body.
