NYT: Video shows US Tomahawk missile striking near Iranian school
A newly released video shows a US Tomahawk cruise missile striking a naval facility near an elementary school in southern Iran, where 175 people are reported to have been killed, many of them children, according to media reports on Sunday, 8 March.
The footage depicts a missile striking a facility within a naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the southern Iranian city of Minab on 28 February.
Analysis by the New York Times based on satellite imagery, social media posts and other verified videos indicates that Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School sustained severe damage from a precision strike occurring at nearly the same time as the attack on the nearby IRGC naval base.
The video shows the missile striking a building described as a medical clinic within the base, producing plumes of smoke and debris. As the camera pans to the surrounding area, large clouds of dust and smoke are visible rising from around the school, suggesting the location had been struck not long before the missile hit the naval facility.
The US military is the only party to the conflict known to use Tomahawk cruise missiles.
When asked by journalists whether the US had bombed the school, President Donald Trump denied responsibility. “No. In my view, and based on what I see, it was done by Iran,” Trump said, adding that Iranian ammunition is “very inaccurate.”
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the Pentagon is reviewing the incident. “The only party targeting civilians is Iran,” he said.
Tomahawk cruise missiles are remote-guided weapons capable of travelling approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometres) and are programmed with a specific flight path before launch. Each missile is approximately 20 feet (6 metres) in length with a wingspan of about 8.5 feet (2.6 metres).
General Dan Caine, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that US forces were conducting strikes in southern Iran at the time of the incident. “The first weapon launched from the sea was the Tomahawk missile fired by the US Navy,” Caine said in a Pentagon briefing cited by the New York Times.
The findings align with separate analysis from open-source investigation group Bellingcat, which identified the Tomahawk attack on the IRGC facility near the school and reported smoke rising from the school area shortly before missile impact.
The 28 February attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School killed over 170 people, many of them children, according to Iranian officials.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) described the killing of the students as a “serious violation” of the protection of educational facilities under international humanitarian law and called for a thorough investigation.
To date, no party has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.