US Defence Secretary Pete Hagseth said an officer from outside the United States Central Command has been assigned to investigate the strike on a girls’ school in Iran and will spend “as much time as it takes” to determine what happened.
Hagseth did not name the officer who will investigate the 28 February strike on a girls’ primary school in Minab in Hormozgan province in southern Iran.
Local officials said the attack killed at least 175 people, including 168 children.
Several U.S. officials familiar with the matter said the strike may have been the result of U.S. forces relying on outdated intelligence. The officials cautioned, however, that the assessment remains preliminary.
Radio Liberty sources said the previous day that a final assessment of the events surrounding the missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school will be handed to Congress in the coming days.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hagseth and other US officials have stressed that the United States is not targeting civilian targets in a deliberate manner.
US President Donald Trump initially suggested Iran could be responsible for the attack. When asked again on 11 March about reports indicating possible US responsibility, Trump said he did not have enough information to comment but that he would accept the results of the investigation.
If it is confirmed that it was a US mistake, it would be one of the deadliest civilian casualty incidents involving US troops in a decade.