Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the U.S. military has opened a comprehensive investigation into last month’s deadly strike on an elementary school in Iran, in what appeared to be a tacit acknowledgment of the United States’ responsibility for the incident and a shift to examining how it occurred.
Hegseth, speaking at a Pentagon news conference, did not explicitly acknowledge the United States was at fault for the Feb. 28 incident — which left at least 175 dead, mostly children, according to Iranian officials — but he said that “the truth matters.”
His comments coincide with a growing body of evidence suggesting the U.S. military carried out the strike in Minab, a city in southern Iran. The Pentagon does not typically conduct such investigations of another country’s military operations.
The secretary spoke as the Pentagon prepares to deploy other forces to the Middle East as the war continues. Among the units expected to go in coming days is an amphibious task force that includes nearly 5,000 troops, including the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, two officials familiar with the issue said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The force, based in Okinawa, Japan, would arrive with F-35 fighter jets, Osprey aircraft and an infantry battalion of about 800 Marines. It was not immediately clear what their role could be, but the unit is trained to seize beachheads and islands and evacuate American civilians from harm’s way. They also have expertise in holding open maritime choke points, such as the Strait of Hormuz.
Friday’s investigation announcement stood in contrast to Hegseth’s rhetoric about the Trump administration’s approach to fighting its war with Iran and his strident criticism, a day after the elementary school attack, of what he said were “stupid rules of engagement” that hindered U.S. forces in past conflicts. It also marked a rare split with President Donald Trump, who has asserted, without evidence, that Iran was probably responsible for the school attack.
U.S. military officials have designated a general officer to scrutinize the attack, Hegseth told reporters. The investigating officer, he added, will come from outside U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, including against Iran.
The decision to appoint a general from outside of Central Command appears to be an attempt at ensuring the probe is conducted free of any influence from senior leaders who may bear responsibility if it is determined U.S. personnel failed to recognize that the children’s school was not a legitimate military target. Officials have not publicly identified the investigating officer.
“The command investigation will take as long as necessary to address all the matters surrounding this incident,” Hegseth said.
The announcement follows an initial review of the incident that was completed March 6, said Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a U.S. military spokesman. Adm. Charles “Brad” Cooper, who heads Central Command, ordered the full investigation the following day, Hawkins said.
Hawkins declined to say whether the formal investigation was an acknowledgment the U.S. was responsible for the strike. He said he is withholding future comment about the probe “to preserve the integrity of the investigative process.”
Such examinations typically can take months or longer to complete and include interviews with witnesses and participants involved and an examination of radio transmissions and targeting data.
As The Washington Post reported this week, military officials determined that the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site. Video of the attack appears to show a Tomahawk cruise missile — a munition fired from the sea by the U.S. Navy — hitting a building near the school, according to munitions experts who reviewed the footage.
The school used to be part of an Iranian naval base, but it had been walled off since 2015 and an outdoor play area can be seen on Google Earth as early as 2017, according to a review of satellite imagery. It appears that other buildings near the school are affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite part of Iran’s military.
The issue became politicized after Trump falsely stated Monday that Iran possesses Tomahawk missiles and that he thinks its military was responsible for the elementary school strike. Only the United States and a small handful of allies possess the Tomahawk. Israel, the only known U.S. partner force attacking Iran, does not use Tomahawks.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Trump “has a right to share his opinions with the American public,” but she added that Trump will “accept the conclusion” after the military investigates.
Hegseth, who served as a mid-ranking officer in the Army National Guard during U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has stopped short of asserting Trump’s claims about Iranian responsibility, in a rare break between the two leaders. The defense secretary instead has highlighted how Iran has repeatedly hit civilian targets across the region since the conflict began, and he said that the U.S. military would never deliberately do so.
“I would note to this group and to the world: There’s only one entity in this conflict between us and Iran that never targets civilians,” Hegseth told reporters Friday. He added: “We don’t target, Iran does. We will investigate, we’ll get to the truth and we’ll share it when we have it.”
The U.S. military prides itself on mitigating civilian casualties but has on occasion made grievous errors.
In 2015, for instance, U.S. warplanes shelled a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, for nearly an hour, killing about 30 patients and doctors. An investigation later found that U.S. troops involved did not know they were striking a medical facility. Sixteen personnel were disciplined, but senior military officials found that nothing amounted to a war crime because the disaster was not intentional.
In 2021, commanders scrutinized a drone strike in Kabul, the Afghan capital, in the waning hours of that war. U.S. forces believed they were targeting a militant hauling explosives in a car. The driver, an aid worker, was struck as he arrived home, and he and nine other people were killed.
The Pentagon did not admit fault in that incident until several news organizations, including The Post, published investigations verifying it was a botched operation. Military investigators completed their report within days of the strike but released a single page of findings. A lawsuit by the New York Times forced the release of the full investigation in 2023.
A 2023 airstrike in Syria was also the subject of what is called a 15-6 investigation after officials determined U.S. forces, targeting an individual they thought to be a senior al-Qaeda leader, instead killed a shepherd. Central Command acknowledged the error following an investigation by The Post but has not publicly disclosed detailed investigative findings.
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