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| BBC asks Hegseth about reports of strike on Iranian girls school (Image: BBC) |
Democrats in the US Senate have written to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to ask for clarification on the Iranian strike that killed 168 people, including 110 children, at a primary school. The media in the United States have reported that US military investigators believe that American forces were probably to blame for hitting the school unintentionally at the beginning of the joint US-Israeli operation, but that they have not reached a final conclusion. As is the case with all correspondence sent to Congress, the Pentagon stated that it would respond directly to the letter's authors. When asked about the strike last week by the BBC, Hegseth stated that the United States did not target civilians and was looking into the matter.
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The letter comes from nearly every Democrat in the Senate and asks a lot of specific questions about the Minab strike, starting with whether or not the United States carried it out. It asks if the school building was hit because of outdated or incorrect target analysis. It also draws attention to Hegseth's recent promise at a news conference that there would be no "stupid rules of engagement" in the war and inquires as to whether the defense secretary has followed the rules to prevent war crimes. If the US played a part in the strike, it would be one of the worst cases of civilian casualties in US conflicts in the Middle East in decades. A member of the Armed Services Committee named Senator Gary Peters, one of the letter's signatories, described the incident as "a horrific tragedy" and demanded "exactly what happened." According to what he stated to BBC News, "Let's try to get those facts as quickly as we can so we know exactly what happened, and then we can discuss what actions to take after we know those facts." The letter demonstrates how the war has grown to be a party-line issue among US lawmakers. It was not endorsed by any Republican Party member of President Donald Trump. John Fetterman, the only Senate Democratic member who did not do so, has backed the military action but believes an investigation into the school strike is appropriate.
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| US Tomahawk missile hits military base near Iran school (Image: BBC) |
CBS News, a partner of the BBC, and other US outlets claim that a preliminary assessment of the incident by American officials suggests that the United States was "likely" to have been responsible, but that it may have hit the school accidentally and not intentionally. This may have been because the intelligence used by the US was outdated and wrongly identified the area as still being a military site, according to a person briefed on the preliminary assessment who spoke to CBS.
Trump has previously stated that he believes the bombing was carried out by Iran without citing any evidence. On Tuesday, when reporters again inquired about the matter, he responded, "I just don't know enough about it." He went on to say, in reference to the ongoing military investigation, "Whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report." Expert video analysis has revealed that a Tomahawk missile, a type of US cruise missile that neither Israel nor Iran are known to possess, struck an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military base next to the school. BBC Verify verified the authenticity of a video that recently appeared on Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency and showed a missile just before it hit the base. Experts who saw the video said that evidence of multiple strikes in the area and the presence of a Tomahawk missile suggested it was a US operation. Iran has put the attack on Israel and the United States. Israel asserts that it was unaware of any activities in the vicinity. Two Israeli officials recently stated to the Washington Post that the targeting was not discussed with the Israeli military.
As the number of civilian casualties that have been reported continues to rise, satellite images and verified videos reveal that other civilian sites, such as a hospital and historic landmarks, have been severely damaged since the US-Israeli operation began on February 28. Iran has continued to respond by attacking non-military targets, such as civilian sites and energy facilities, in addition to Israel and US-allied Gulf states. Also on Wednesday, a question about whether the United States played a role in the school attack was posed to General David Petraeus, the former Director of the CIA and Commander of US Central Command. He told BBC News that the Americans "tragically, were probably the ones, we were the only ones that have Tomahawk missiles in this particular exercise, this war," despite the fact that he stated that he had not directly seen the evidence being examined. He went on to say, "And it appears to have been some old data when this particular building was part of a larger Iranian naval compound... some years ago."
Source: BBC
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