by Alaina Coats
March 11, 2026
A preliminary investigation conducted by the U.S. military suggests that the United States was at fault for bombing an elementary school in southern Iran during a missile strike on Feb.28.
Reports show that U.S. Tomahawk missiles were launched from a U.S. Navy cruise ship and hit Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School killing 175 people, mostly schoolgirls.
The school's campus was reportedly on an old Iranian Navy base, which was a primary U.S. target.
Officials say the U.S. did not know that the Navy base was no longer in that location. U.S. military reports show that their Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) provided outdated data and maps of U.S. targets. They say the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) are responsible for ensuring data is accurate once DIA receives it, but the data went unverified.
President Donald Trump initially told reporters that he believed Iran was responsible for the bombing. "Based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran," he said aboard Air Force One on March 7.
According to Mark F. Cancian, senior advisor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "Iran doesn't have Tomahawk missiles," he told PBS.
Tomahawk cruise missiles are only made in the United States. They can be launched from underwater or from land 1,000 miles away from a target. Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands are the only other counters that have the missiles.
Watch: President Trump holds press conference on the status of U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Over 1,300 Iranians have been killed in the U.S.-Israeli military strikes aka Operation Epic Fury since the war began on Feb 28. The country's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei who had led Iran since 1989 was reportedly killed, too.
President Trump is calling the war "a military success" claiming to have struck over 5,000 Iranian targets and to have "wiped every single force in Iran out," he told reporters.
He predicts "the war will be over very soon." The Iranians "have no Navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft equipment, it' s all been blown up. They have no radar, no telecommunications, and they have no leadership. It's all gone," he said.
President Trump claims that the war in Iran began because Iran was building a nuclear weapons program, enriching uranium that could produce 11 ballistic bombs aimed at harming several countries including the United States. Iran has denied the president's claims of having a nuclear weapons program, and vowed revenge against the U.S.
Recent threats have been made by Iran to attack California. President Trump said that these threats are being investigated.
Preliminary Reports Conclude U.S. Responsible for Iranian Elementary School Bombing
