Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, June 24, said he did not believe American forces were responsible for the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, insisting he had seen no evidence linking the US military to the attack, Reuters reported.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said the Pentagon had yet to complete its investigation into the February 28 strike and suggested it might never be possible to establish who was responsible because missiles were fired by multiple parties during the conflict.
“I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it,” Trump said. “Somebody said it was our missile. Well, maybe it wasn’t our missile, but I’ve seen nothing to lead me to believe it was… I don’t think it was us.”
The comments marked a change in tone from last week, when Trump said “mistakes are made” and described war as “nasty” while addressing the incident, without explicitly rejecting US responsibility.
Reuters reported in March that a preliminary internal US military investigation found American forces were likely responsible for the strike. Sources familiar with the inquiry said outdated targeting data may have contributed to the incident. The Pentagon later expanded the investigation and has yet to announce its findings.
Iranian authorities said the strike killed more than 175 children and teachers. US officials have said American forces do not deliberately target schools, while maintaining that the investigation remains ongoing.
The attack triggered international condemnation, with the UN human rights office calling it “absolutely horrific”. Under international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting a school could constitute a war crime.
