Pentagon delays standard intelligence review into Minab school massacre: Report

The Pentagon has yet to complete a standard intelligence review into the US strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, that martyred 168 civilians, mostly children.

The strike took place on February 28 during the opening hours of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, when precision-guided Tomahawk missiles struck the school in a triple tap strike.

The military completed the first two stages of its battle damage assessment within days of the strike, confirming that US forces had hit the location, yet the final intelligence review has still not been ordered more than four months later, CNN reported on Thursday. 

The third review is typically conducted following major strikes involving large numbers of civilian casualties and requires intelligence analysts to examine satellite imagery, targeting data, communications, and other available information to establish exactly what occurred and whether failures in planning or intelligence contributed to the deaths.

A separate military investigation was also launched, and personnel involved in the operation were interviewed, but the material gathered during those interviews has remained under tight restrictions, with only a limited number of officers permitted to review it, added the report. 

“There was no detailed analysis conducted and CENTCOM locked down the investigation,” one source familiar with the matter told CNN, adding that officials had effectively blocked any broader examination of the incident.

Information gathered during the early stages of the inquiry claimed that the attack resulted from outdated intelligence, while warnings that information on several targets in Iran required updating were ignored as commanders rushed to approve strike packages.

US lawmakers have continued demanding the release of the investigation, writing that there is “no justification” for withholding an account of “what happened, what went wrong, and what the Department of War is doing to prevent recurrence.”

'Gravest war crime': Iran's UN envoy demands justice for US strike on Minab school

A senior Iranian diplomat says the US must be fully held accountable for its most horrific crime against a primary school in Minab that killed 168 civilians most of them children.

Asked whether he would release the findings, President Donald Trump declined to make any commitment, saying, “I do not think anybody is ever going to be able to say what happened there,” before adding that he would “have to ask the military people.”

The source also said the handling of the investigation followed strong criticism of Secretary of War Peter Hegseth and senior Pentagon officials over previous intelligence assessments related to the war on Iran, adding to growing scrutiny over the continued withholding of the Minab findings.

Iran condemned the strike as a war crime, crime against humanity and a grave violation of international humanitarian law, while several governments, international organizations, and rights groups called for an independent investigation and accountability for those responsible.

One of the first Red Crescent medics to reach the school said the principal had gathered children inside the prayer hall after the initial explosion, but “the second bomb hit that area as well,” adding that “only a small number of those who had taken shelter survived.”

The latest round of US-Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28, prompting Tehran to launch daily missile and drone strikes against US and Israeli military targets before the two sides signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 17, although renewed US strikes in recent days have once again triggered Iranian retaliation.

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