It’s looking more and more like the US Navy was responsible for killing more than 150 Iranian schoolgirls in the first hours of Operation Epic Fury, according to separate analyses of new video performed by research firm Bellingcat and the New York Times, who each tapped weapons experts to study the footage. Their conclusions contradict President Trump’s casual accusation that inaccurate Iranian weapons were to blame.
The strike occurred in the southern city of Minab on the morning of Saturday February 28 — Saturday is a school day in Iran. Iran reports that 175 people were killed, mostly children, at the girls’ elementary school near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. While some, including former National Security Advisor John Bolton, reflexively blamed Iran for having a school near a military installation, others were quick to point out that US military bases around the world are peppered with schools, to say nothing of the fact that the United States and Israel had launched a Pearl Harbor-style surprise attack amid ongoing negotiations. Yet, the Pentagon may have relied on exceedingly obsolete intelligence, as witnesses say the school was located on a site previously used by the IRGC — some 15 years ago.
The new video captures a Tomahawk cruise missile hitting a reported medical clinic on an Iranian naval base next to the Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ School, with geolocation showing smoke already rising from the facility which taught 6- to 12-year-olds. Israel notably does not have Tomahawks, but the US Navy launches them from ships, and the service has posted multiple videos of cruise missiles being fired from destroyers during the war on Iran. Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician working with Bellingcat, concluded the video shows a Tomahawk, as did Chris Cobb-Smith of Chiron Resources for the Times. In a March 2 briefing, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told reporters that “the first shooters at sea were Tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy.”
New video footage shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an IRGC facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area. The footage also shows smoke already rising from the vicinity of the girls’ school, where 175 people were reportedly killed. pic.twitter.com/4jBXrNcRJO
— Trevor Ball (@Easybakeovensz) March 8, 2026
Aboard Air Force One on Saturday, President Trump brushed off the notion that the US military was responsible, instead suggesting that Iran accidentally bombed themselves. “No. In my opinion and based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran…They’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions,” he told reporters. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the reporter the incident was being investigated, adding that “the only side that targets civilians is Iran” (a claim that Gaza Palestinians and IDF whistleblowers would certainly take issue with). Trump administration officials had previously confided to members of Congress that the Pentagon was going after targets in the area, and said Israel wasn’t working that zone.