President Donald Trump’s claim that U.S. forces are not responsible for a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran suddenly looks a lot less convincing.
Pro-regime media outlet Mehr News Agency uploaded footage Sunday of last week’s strike on a naval base located right next to the school in Minab, southern Iran.
The New York Times has now independently verified the footage, which appears to show a Tomahawk cruise missile was used in the strike.
The United States military is apparently the only force engaged in present hostilities across the region that has access to those rockets.
Trump has flat out denied the U.S. had anything to do with the strike, which killed 175 people, many of them students at the elementary school.
“No, in my opinion, and based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” he told reporters Saturday.
“They’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions,” he went on.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the Pentagon has launched an investigation of the killings, but insisted “the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
Footage verified by the NYT was first reported by Bellingcat last week.
It was apparently captured at a building site across from an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base, and shows what is believed to be a Tomahawk missile striking the compound’s medical clinic.
“As the camera pans to the right, large plumes of dust and smoke are already billowing from the area around the elementary school, suggesting that it had been struck shortly before the strike on the naval base,” the newspaper writes.
The Pentagon describes Tomahawk missiles as “long range, highly accurate” rockets that can fly for approximate distances of 1,000 miles.
The U.S. military has fired dozens of those missiles from Navy ships in the region since Trump first initiated hostilities on Feb. 28, and has released footage of those launches, including on the day the school was hit.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment on this story.
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