WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the question of who was responsible for a devastating strike on a girls’ school in Iran may never be answered.
The attack occurred on February 28 — the first day of the Iran war — when U.S. and Israeli forces launched strikes against Iran. The strike hit a school in Minab, in southern Iran, killing more than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials.
Reuters reported in March that an early internal U.S. military investigation pointed to U.S. forces as likely responsible for the fatal strike. The Pentagon has since expanded the investigation but has stopped short of confirming any preliminary conclusions.
Speaking to reporters, Trump cast doubt on whether the truth would ever come out. “I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem,” he said. “I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it’s horrible what happened but there were missiles flying all over the place.”
Trump also pushed back on suggestions that the U.S. was to blame. “Somebody said it was our missile, maybe it wasn’t our missile but I have seen nothing to lead me to believe it was,” he said, adding, “I don’t think it was us.”
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in March that the strike may have resulted from the use of outdated targeting data by U.S. forces.
Under international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting a school would likely constitute a war crime. U.S. officials have publicly stated that Washington would never intentionally strike a school.
The attack sparked widespread global outrage. The United Nations human rights office described the incident as “absolutely horrific.”
Trump initially blamed Iran for the strike without providing evidence. He has since walked back that claim, saying he lacks sufficient information, that an investigation remains ongoing, that he will accept whatever the inquiry concludes, and that “nobody” deliberately targeted the school.
