Who attacked a girls' school in Iran, and will there be accountability?
Who attacked a girls' school in Iran, and will there be accountability?
Josh Meyer, USA TODAYTue, March 3, 2026 at 11:05 AM UTC
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WASHINGTON – The search for the dead in the apparent U.S. or Israeli missile strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh all-girls’ elementary school in Iran has officially ended.
But the questions surrounding the attack that killed at least 175 people have just begun, as international condemnation and calls for investigations – and accountability – were amplified on March 2.
“All alleged violations − including indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, deliberate targeting of civilians or civilian infrastructure, and attacks on medical facilities and schools − must be promptly, independently, and transparently investigated,” one of the world’s oldest human rights organizations, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), said in a March 2 statement.
“Where evidence of war crimes or other serious violations is found,” it added, “those responsible, regardless of rank or official capacity, must be held accountable in accordance with international law.”
The Trump administration has neither ruled out nor admitted responsibility for the attack, which occurred during the opening wave of the U.S.-led operations on Feb. 28.
The Pentagon says it is reviewing the incident, but so far it has not publicly committed to a formal investigation, disciplinary action or other accountability measures.
“It would be difficult to establish a lawful basis for the strike on the school building at a time when it is full of children,” David Scheffer, an international law expert who served as the first U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, told USA TODAY. “It likely is a mistaken targeting decision or based on flawed intelligence about the use of that building.”
Here’s what to know.
What happened at Shajareh Tayyebeh?
The military strike on the elementary school in Minab, in the southern Hormozgan province near the Sea of Oman, is considered one of the biggest civilian casualty attacks in the newly launched U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
President Donald Trump has defended the war as necessary in depriving a hostile enemy of nuclear weapons and missile capabilities.
The majority of victims were children, including dozens of young girls between the ages of 7 and 12, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA and Iranian officials, in what they allege was an indiscriminate attack on civilians.
Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesman for Iran’s health ministry, shared an X post on Feb. 28, calling the majority of those killed at the school "young child martyrs."
“God knows how many more children will be pulled out of the rubble,” he wrote. “May God give their families strength and patience.”
When the strike hit, the school was holding its first of multiple rotating school shifts, according to Hengaw, a Norway-based organization focusing on human rights violations in Iran. The group added that around 170 students are enrolled in the school’s morning shift; however, it is unclear how many were in the building during the strike.
Why was the school struck?
It was not immediately clear why the school was targeted, but old satellite images indicate that the school was previously connected to a facility of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. Recent satellite images from 2016 showed that the school had since been separated from the IRGC base by a wall, The New York Times reported.
Video footage of the area circulated online appears to show that the IRGC base was also targeted in the attack, which occurred during the opening phase of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign that began Feb. 28.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine speaks during military operations in Iran, at U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. February 28, 2026. The White House/Social Media/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. SOME AREAS BLURRED AT SOURCE.What do US officials say?
So far, the response from the Trump administration has been muted.
The White House has not commented. The Defense Department has offered little response except to say it is probing reports of civilian casualties.
“We are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the region.
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“The protection of civilians is of utmost importance,” Hawkins said, “and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm.”
The bombing of the school did not come up at Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s news briefing March 2 with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine.
But Hegseth described the mission of the U.S. campaign, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” as being “laser-focused” on destroying Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
“We're hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly and unapologetically,” Hegseth told reporters.
“As the President warned,” Hegseth also said, “an effort of this scope will include casualties. War is hell and always will be.”
What do war crimes and humanitarian laws say?
Such attacks on schools, especially intentional ones, can be war crimes under international and even U.S. rules of engagement, legal experts told USA TODAY March 2.
At the very least, they are grounds for intensive investigations into how the target was chosen, who authorized it and whether it was intentional.
Col. Morris Davis, a former war crimes prosecutor who retired as the director of the Air Force Judiciary, said the laws of war are clear: Schools and other civilian targets cannot be targeted unless there is clear evidence that enemy forces are using the facility for operations, to store weapons, to quarter troops or for other acts of war.
A drone photo shows the damage over residential homes and a school at the impact site following a missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Bnei Brak, Israel June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Chen Kalifa
“You saw that in Gaza, where you can have a protected site that is converted to a prohibited use, and it loses protected status,” Davis said.
“Obviously, this is a monumental incident and typically an investigation would be convened to determine two things,” said Davis, the former chief prosecutor at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay. “One is to determine accountability, and another for lessons learned. How do we prevent this from happening again?”
In an investigation, some of the questions that should be asked would include: Was the school the intended target? Was it struck while attacking the nearby IRGC facility? And if so, what intelligence supported the strike, and were civilian risk estimates conducted?
Such investigations would be ordered and overseen by the military leader in charge of that theater, according to military policy, in this case, the commander of Central Command, Davis told USA TODAY.
“But I think that's something that in the current environment, would be a good way to be unemployed come Monday,” Davis said, citing remarks about the current war by Hegseth and other officials. “So do I expect anybody to be held accountable? No.”
What are human rights organizations saying?
Iran’s government labeled the attack on the school a war crime and demanded action by the United Nations.
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, also condemned the attack on the school as “a grave violation of humanitarian law.”
FILE PHOTO: People and rescue forces work following an Israel strike on a school in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY/File Photo
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned the attack, as well as the retaliatory strikes by Iran that hit several Middle Eastern countries.
The International Federation for Human Rights was one of numerous organizations to call on the U.S. and Israel to quickly investigate the matter to determine who ordered the strike, what information they possessed at the time.
The group singled out the attack on the school targeting civilian infrastructure, saying “a majority” of the victims were children. But it cited other reports indicating that hundreds of civilians have also been killed in various Iranian cities, including in attacks on hospitals.
Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rights groups want answers in attack on Iran girls school. Here's why
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