US Responsible for Deadly and Unlawful Attack on Iranian School, Amnesty International Says

Rights group’s in-depth investigation finds the strike that killed at least 168 people, mostly children, constitutes a serious violation of international law and may be a war crime.

The United States is responsible for a deadly and unlawful attack on an Iranian primary school that killed at least 168 people, most of them children, Amnesty International said in a major investigation released on Monday. The rights group urged immediate accountability for those who planned and carried out the assault, which early US military investigations have reportedly acknowledged was a targeting mistake based on outdated intelligence .

The rights group said on Monday that a US-manufactured Tomahawk missile was used in the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in the southern city of Minab on February 28. “Tomahawk missiles are used exclusively by US forces in this conflict and are precision-guided missiles,” it said, confirming the weapon’s origin .

Using satellite imagery, video footage, and interviews with independent sources, Amnesty’s Evidence Lab conducted a detailed reconstruction of the event. The investigation showed the school was “directly struck” alongside a dozen other structures in an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base. The school building, which serves both children of IRGC personnel and low-income families from the Baluchi ethnic minority, is located approximately 74 meters from the nearest targeted military structure .

“This harrowing attack on a school, with classrooms full of children, is a sickening illustration of the catastrophic and entirely predictable price civilians are paying during this armed conflict,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. “Schools must be places of safety and learning for children. Instead, this school in Minab became a site of mass killing” .

A Failure of Precautions and Intelligence

Amnesty’s analysis points to a systemic failure by US forces to uphold international humanitarian law. While the building once housed the command headquarters of the IRGC compound, satellite imagery confirms it was physically separated by a wall and given its own public entrances by 2016 . Media and civil society organizations verified this status immediately after the attack.

“This points to a failure by US forces to take feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm in carrying out the attack, which is a serious breach of international humanitarian law,” the organisation said. “The fact that the school building was directly targeted… raises concerns that US forces may have relied on outdated intelligence and failed in their obligation to do everything feasible to verify that the intended target was a military objective” .

This concern was echoed by preliminary US military investigations. According to reports by The New York Times and CNN, US Central Command officers created target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, failing to note that the building had been converted into a school for nearly a decade . Compounding this risk, US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Brad Cooper confirmed on March 11 that the US was using advanced artificial intelligence tools to process data related to operations .

“If the attackers failed to identify the building as a school and nevertheless proceeded with the attack, this would indicate gross negligence in the planning of the attack and would point to a shameful intelligence failure on the part of the US military and a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” Guevara-Rosas said .

The Attack and Its Aftermath

According to the governor of Hormozgan province, the school was struck at approximately 10:45 am local time on February 28, one hour into the joint US-Israeli military operation . Satellite imagery from 10:23 am that morning shows the school still standing without visible damage. Witnesses reported that school staff had begun contacting parents around 10:00 am to pick up their children, just before a nationwide alert announced the closure of all schools. For many families from outlying villages, the warning came too late .

The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan News Agency has reported that at least 110 school children were among the dead—66 boys and 54 girls—along with 26 teachers and four parents who had arrived to collect their children. Due to an ongoing internet blackout imposed by Iranian authorities since the day of the attack, Amnesty could not independently verify the final toll .

In the aftermath, UN experts condemned the strike as “a grave assault on children, on education, and on the future of an entire community.” They emphasized that intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, including schools, is a war crime under the Rome Statute .

Conflicting Statements and the Context of “No Stupid Rules of Engagement”

While Washington has said it is investigating the incident, responses from the Trump administration have been contradictory. President Donald Trump initially suggested without evidence that Iran itself may have been responsible for the school strike, claiming Iran possesses Tomahawk missiles—a statement contradicted by the fact that only the US, UK, and Australia are known to possess them . Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, has consistently stated only that the Pentagon is investigating . After the New York Times report on the targeting mistake, Trump told reporters, “I don’t know about it” .

Experts have raised alarm about comments made by senior US officials that appear to disregard the framework of international law meant to protect civilians. On March 2, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that Washington would not abide by “stupid rules of engagement” in its military offensive against Iran.

“America, regardless of what so-called international institutions say, is unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history,” Hegseth told reporters. “No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives” .

Human Rights Watch noted that these remarks are deeply concerning, as they follow a pattern of the Defense Department weakening protections meant to ensure compliance with the laws of war, including the removal of senior military lawyers and the disbanding of “civilian environment teams” .

Calls for Accountability and Exploitation by Iranian Authorities

Amnesty International stressed that the US investigation must be transparent, impartial, and independent, with its results made public. “Where sufficient evidence exists, competent authorities should prosecute any person suspected of criminal responsibility. Victims and their families have the right to truth and justice and should receive full reparation, including restitution, rehabilitation and compensation,” Guevara-Rosas said .

The organization also documented severe abuses by Iranian authorities in the wake of the attack. Families from the Sunni Baluchi minority were reportedly forced to participate in a state-organized mass funeral with Shia Muslim rites, contrary to their own religious traditions, and only received their children’s remains after the ceremony . Traumatized child survivors were brought to the rubble of their school and filmed for state propaganda, with some interviews causing further psychological distress .

The International Bar Association has condemned the broader context of the conflict, stating that the initial strikes by the US and Israel on February 28 were carried out without UN Security Council authorization and without a publicly substantiated armed attack by Iran that would trigger the right to self-defence under international law .

As the war continues, the Minab school attack stands as a defining and tragic illustration of its cost. The central question that remains, as Guevara-Rosas framed it, is whether the US attack was the result of gross negligence or a reckless, indiscriminate strike. In either case, she concluded, it “must be investigated as a war crime” .

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