U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/politics/iran-school-missile-strike.html

U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says
Outdated targeting data may have resulted in a mistaken missile strike, according to the military investigation, which undercuts President Trump’s assertion that Iran could be to blame.
By Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, Tyler Pager, Malachy Browne and Helene Cooper
March 11, 2026 Updated 1:07 p.m. ET

An ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings.

The Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building was the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S. military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part, the preliminary investigation found. Officers at U.S. Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, people briefed on the investigation said.

Striking a school full of children is sure to be recorded as one of the most devastating single military errors in recent decades. Iranian officials have said the death toll was at least 175 people, most of them children.

While the overall finding was largely expected — the United States is the only country involved in the conflict that uses Tomahawk missiles — it has already cast a shadow on the U.S. military operation in Iran.

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