The United States has opened a formal investigation into a missile strike that hit a girls’ school in Iran and killed at least 165 civilians, including many children, after an early assessment indicated the United States may have been responsible. According to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly, the inquiry is expected to take several months and will involve interviews with individuals at every stage of the operation, from planners and commanders to personnel who executed the strike.
If investigators ultimately confirm that the United States carried out the attack, the incident would represent one of the deadliest civilian casualty events linked to the U.S. military in decades. In previous years, Congress established a special Pentagon office aimed at preventing accidental strikes on civilians, but that effort was significantly reduced after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth took office last year.
“This investigation is ongoing. As we have said, unlike the terrorist Iranian regime, the United States does not target civilians,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.
The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment regarding the strike or the ongoing investigation.
Questions About Targeting and the Weapons Used
During a press conference shortly after the conflict began, Hegseth publicly criticized what he described as “stupid rules of engagement,” arguing that such restrictions interfere with military victory.
Earlier reporting by NPR indicated that the strike on the school appeared to be part of a precision-guided weapons attack. Video footage later released by Iranian state media showed what appeared to be Tomahawk missiles striking a compound that included the school. Iranian state media also published images showing fragments of Tomahawk missile components displayed on a table outside the damaged school building.
NPR had previously reported that the girls’ school was once part of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval base and may have remained listed as a military structure on outdated U.S. targeting databases. Historical satellite imagery reviewed by NPR suggests the school was physically separated from the base sometime between 2013 and 2016 when a wall was built dividing the two properties.
A public health clinic located on the same base was also struck during the attack. Satellite imagery indicates the clinic was separated from the base by a wall around 2024 and was opened in 2025, according to reports from local media outlets. Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander-in-chief Hossein Salami attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the clinic when it opened. He was later assassinated by Israel that same year.
At a press conference earlier this week, President Donald Trump suggested that Iran or another country might have launched the missile responsible for the strike, describing U.S.-manufactured Tomahawk missiles as “very generic” weapons. However, several military analysts who spoke with NPR said that the missile shown in the video footage did not resemble any missile known to be used by Iran.
“Tomahawks are only used and operated by a very small number of nations,” said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, a technical intelligence consultancy that provides munitions analysis to governments and NGOs. He noted that the United States is the only country involved in the conflict that operates those missiles.
“I think it’s pretty clear from the emerging information that it’s likely a strike that’s gone wrong,” he said. “The most likely scenario at this point is that somewhere along the way in the targeting process, there was an intelligence failure.”
