The US is facing international criticism over the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, at the start of the war. According to officials, the Trump administration relied on false intel when bombing the school.
Initially, President Donald Trump blamed the Iranians for the bombing, but it was eventually proven that the school was hit by a US Tomahawk cruise missile. This led to the death of at least 175 people, including schoolgirls between the ages of 7 and 12, and their teachers, while around 100 were injured.
As reported by The Guardian, initially, the CIA believed the missile might not be a Tomahawk as “the fins appeared to be positioned too low for it to be a Tomahawk cruise missile.” However, it was quickly revealed that it was a US bomb, and the CIA briefed President Trump on the situation.
Speaking to The Guardian, a former CIA officer revealed that “Giving Trump preliminary information is dangerous because he can turn it into a total embarrassment.” They added, “If the principal asks you a question, the best thing to say is you don’t know. Knowing how hard it is to go back later to correct the record.”
However, former intelligence officers have blamed those that briefed Trump for the major embarrassment over the bombing. According to the latest figures, at least 175 people, mostly school girls between the age of 7 and 12, were killed in the bombing of the school, considered one of the deadliest targeting terrors in decades.
At first Trump blamed Iran, as he “had already settled” on the explanation that Iran was responsible for the strike. Moreover, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth refused to confirm the source of the strike, as he did not wish to contradict the President. At that time, Hegseth told reporters that the bombing was still under investigation.
According to the report, Trump refused to accept that it was a Tomahawk missile that destroyed the school. He incorrectly said that Iran had that type of missiles, but it was revealed that this type of missile is used only by the US and a handful of allies, including the UK, Japan and Australia.
A new Pentagon investigation has found the U.S. responsible for the deadly bombing of a girls’ elementary school in Iran where at least 175 died.
Military officers had planned the strike using outdated targeting data. pic.twitter.com/3ATAhSL3NT
— FactPost (@factpostnews) March 11, 2026
Meanwhile, Hegseth’s investigation of the incident is trying to reveal why the intelligence was false. It was claimed the building was a military target, when it was well-known that it was now a school.
ABC news even revealed that it was clear on Google Maps that the military base was separated from the brightly painted school building by a large wall, which reportedly had been there since 2013. The Guardian reported that the building was converted into a school at some stage between 2013 and 2016.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is still investigating why intelligence was not updated, and whether the site was double-checked before the attack.
Bombing a school, children, aid workers, the sick or injured is considered to be illegal under international humanitarian law (IHL). The US has signed and ratified the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and under those rules, the bombing of the girls’ school is considered a war crime.
Reportedly, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency use imagery to select a “target database” with a program named the Maven Smart System. Moreover, the Guardian reports that a former senior defense official had said there are years of analysis that make the system work, plus “layers of oversight.”
However, once it has been entered into the database as a possible target, it may not be reviewed again until a strike is considered. When it is time to make plans for a strike, the target list is generated using Maven and “artificial intelligence tools, including Claude, Anthropic’s language model.
Around the time the President chose to go to war, he instructed federal agencies not to use Anthropic’s AI technology. At the time, it was reported that Anthropic has long stated that the US government not use its system for “fully autonomous weapons systems,” and mass surveillance.
Reportedly, on February 23, Axios reported that Elon Musk’s AI company, Grok and the Pentagon reached an agreement where Musk’s AI tools should be utilized instead. Due to this, it is currently unclear which systems were used that placed the school on the US’s target list.
According to the Washington Post, two Israeli officials stated last week that the school “was not cross-checked or discussed with the Israel Defense Forces prior to the bombing. In the meantime, Human Rights Watch is calling for a war crime investigation into the deadly incident.
