The U.S. has launched a formal investigation into a missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed at least 165 civilians, after a preliminary assessment determined the U.S. was at fault, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The investigation is expected to take months and will include interviews with all those involved, from planners and commanders to those who carried out the strike.
If the U.S. role in the attack is confirmed, it would rank among the military’s most deadly incidents involving civilians in decades. Congress created a special Pentagon office to prevent the accidental targeting of civilians but it was dramatically scaled back by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth soon after he took office last year.
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NPR was the first news organization to report that the strike on the school appeared to be part of an attack involving precision weapons. Subsequent video of the strike released by Iranian state media gave visual indications that Tomahawk missiles struck a compound that included the school. Iranian state media also released pictures of Tomahawk missile components on a table in front of the school
NPR previously reported that the girls’ school was once part of what had been an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval base and may have been shown on outdated U.S. target lists as a military building.
The school was walled off from the base sometime between 2013 and 2016, according to historical satellite imagery reviewed by NPR. A public health clinic on the base was also struck. Satellite images show that clinic was walled off from the base around 2024, and opened in 2025 according to local media reports. Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander-in-chief Hossein Salami cut the ribbon for the clinic’s opening. He was assassinated by Israel later that year.
At a press conference this week, President Trump suggested that Iran or another country fired the missile, calling Tomahawks
Pentagon probe points to U.S. missile hitting Iranian school
