U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says [View all]

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

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/politics/iran-school-missile-strike.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SVA.ncxf.R18iVP_UN11w&smid=url-share


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 Officers at U.S. Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, people briefed on the investigation said.

Officials emphasized that the findings are preliminary and that there are important unanswered questions about why the outdated information had not been double checked.

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.

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