U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Brad Cooper told Congress that American forces believed the girls’ school in Iran’s Minab was part of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facility where, according to U.S. intelligence, cruise missiles were being stored.
According to Cooper, that was the reason behind the strike on the site, which killed around 170 people.
The commander declined to acknowledge U.S. responsibility for the deaths of children, describing the circumstances of the attack as “complex.” He also said the U.S. military continues to investigate the incident.
Iran rejected Cooper’s remarks. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei described the CENTCOM statement as “a baseless fabrication and an outrageous lie.”
“The statement by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) claiming that the elementary school in Minab was located inside a ‘missile launch facility’ is a baseless fabrication and an outrageous lie. This shameless distortion is a clear attempt to conceal the grim reality of the February 28 missile strikes, which led to the tragic killing of more than 170 schoolchildren and their teachers,” Baghaei wrote on X.
He also said the strike on the school constituted “a violation of international humanitarian law and an undeniable war crime.”
Earlier, Donald Trump suggested that Iran itself may have been responsible for the strike on the school in Minab.
The New York Times later reported that missile fragments recovered at the scene indicated the munition was of American origin.