Major news outlets point finger at US for deadly Iran school bombing - what are US and Israel saying?

LAST UPDATE | 10 hrs ago

TWO NEWS OUTLETS have said that the US is likely responsible for the bombing of a school in Iran that killed dozens of children and staff members last weekend. 

Iran has blamed Israel and the US for the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab on the first day of the war last Saturday.

The bombing is said to have killed at least 165 people, most of them children. Many of the victims were schoolgirls aged between 7 and 12. 

• What do we know, and not know, about a devastating school bombing in Iran?

Thousands attended a mass funeral for the victims earlier this week. Images showed people preparing coffins draped in the Iranian flag, some bearing photographs of children. 

Reuters is reporting that US investigators believe that American troops were responsible for the strike. The article cites two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, but adds that it was not able to determine what evidence ‌contributed to the assessment. 

An analysis conducted by the New York Times using satellite imagery and verified footage also suggests that the US was responsible.

“A body of evidence assembled by The New York Times – including newly released satellite imagery, social media posts and verified videos – indicates the school building was severely damaged by a precision strike that occurred at the same time as attacks on an adjacent naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps,” the article states. 

“And official statements that U.S. forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where the I.R.G.C. base is located, suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”

Deliberately attacking a school or any other civilian structure is a violation of international humanitarian law.

Neither the US nor Israel have claimed responsibility for the bombing.

What is the US saying?

The US has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the bombing. 

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US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that his department was continuing to investigate the strike. 

“All I can say is that we’re investigating that. We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that,” he told a BBC reporter during a press conference at the Pentagon.

He did not give a timeline for when the investigation might conclude.

That same day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked if the US was responsible for the strike. “Not that we know of, and the Department of War (Defence) is investigating this matter,” she said. 

“I would just tell you very strongly the United States of America does not target civilians, unlike the rogue Iranian regime.”

On Monday, secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US miliary “would not deliberately target a school”. 

What is Israel saying? 

Israel’s defence forces said it was investigating the bombing, and subsequently denied any involvement in it. 

“Once we’ve seen the reports, we started checking immediately. We are not aware at the moment of any IDF operation in that area,” IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani told US broadcaster NPR on Monday.

“I don’t know who’s responsible for the bombing.”

What have international organisations said?

In the aftermath of the bombing, UNESCO said the killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning “constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law”. 

Norway-based rights group Hengaw said it was investigating the identities of the victims.

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What do we know, and not know, about a devastating school bombing in Iran?

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has urged the US to move “very quickly” with its investigation. 

“What we have asked for is obviously prompt, transparent and impartial investigations, which we understand has been announced by the United States,” he told reporters in Geneva today. 

“We need this to happen very quickly and we need to also make sure that there is accountability as well as redress for the victims.”

Turk, who said he hoped to go to Washington later this month, said there were “significant concerns about the respect for international humanitarian law, especially the conduct of hostilities… (and what) measures of precaution, of distinction, of proportionality are taken”.

When it comes to a school, he said, that was “clearly a civilian institution that should never be attacked”.

“Then there are questions around the type of weapons that were used, as well as the timing,” he said, pointing out that the attack “happened in the morning”, at a time when children were likely to be in school.

“These factors need to be taken into account.”

Turk said that he hoped “there will be not only guarantees of non-recurrence but a review of all the standard operating procedures when it comes to this type of issues”.

He added that his office so far had few details, since it did not have a presence inside Iran, with the ongoing internet shutdown making it even harder to get information.

“The onus is now really on those who conducted these strikes to conduct this type of investigation. We expect accountability to be served.”

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