On March 11, President Donald Trump told reporters he was unaware of a military investigation concluding that the United States was responsible for a Tomahawk cruise missile strike on an Iranian girls’ elementary school on the first day of the war.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Trump said when asked about the investigation’s findings, which were released on Wednesday.
According to The New York Times, the strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building—which killed at least 175 people, most of them children—was the result of a targeting error by the U.S. military. The attack took place on February 28.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the report, saying the incident remains under investigation.
Trump had earlier blamed Iran for the tragedy. On Saturday, he told reporters that Tehran had carried out the strike on the school, even though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the time that the circumstances of the incident were still under investigation.
On Monday, March 9, the president also suggested that Iran possesses Tomahawk missiles, even though such weapons are known to be held only by the United States and a small number of other countries. Trump claimed the missiles are “sold to other countries,” despite the fact that in the current conflict they have been used only by U.S. armed forces.
When a reporter from The New York Times asked Trump why he appeared to be the only member of his administration blaming Iran, the president replied: “Because I simply don’t know enough about it.”