The United States is responsible for a deadly attack on an Iranian primary school in the southern city of Minab, according to Amnesty International. The attack, which occurred on February 28, killed at least 170 people, mostly children.
A US-manufactured Tomahawk missile was likely used in the attack, Amnesty said in a new investigation. The rights group used satellite imagery, video footage, and interviews with experts to determine that the school was directly struck alongside a dozen other structures in an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound.
The investigation showed that US forces failed to take feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm, which is a serious breach of international humanitarian law, Amnesty said. The fact that the school building was directly targeted and was previously part of the IRGC compound raises concerns that US forces may have relied on outdated intelligence.
International Response
United Nations experts have described the school attack as a grave assault on children. US Democratic lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to provide clear answers to the American public and Congress about how and why the tragedy unfolded.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International's senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said that if Washington failed to identify the building as a school yet went ahead with the strike, it would indicate gross negligence in the planning of the attack. Alternatively, Guevara-Rosas said the US may have known the school was adjacent to the IRGC compound and gone ahead with the attack without taking all feasible precautions to minimise civilian harm.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested earlier this month that Washington would not abide by stupid rules of engagement in its military offensive against Iran. Hegseth told reporters that America is unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history, and that we fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives.
Source: Amnesty International
