{"id":47085,"date":"2026-03-07T13:13:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T21:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47085"},"modified":"2026-03-07T13:13:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T21:13:51","slug":"up-there-with-my-lai-investigations-find-us-was-likely-behind-iranian-school-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/07\/up-there-with-my-lai-investigations-find-us-was-likely-behind-iranian-school-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Up There With My Lai\u2019: Investigations Find US Was Likely Behind Iranian School Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Funeral<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An aerial view of a graveyard as funerals are held for students and staff from a girls\u2019 school killed in a likely US strike on March 3, 2026 in Minab, Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Handout\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf a US role were to be confirmed, the strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of US conflicts in the Middle East.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 06, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US investigators reportedly believe that American forces were behind the bombing of an Iranian girls\u2019 school that killed more than 160 people\u2014mostly young children\u2014during the initial wave of attacks launched Saturday by President Donald Trump<\/a> in coordination with the Israeli military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing two unnamed officials, Reuters<\/em> reported<\/a> Thursday that US military<\/a> investigators have found it is \u201clikely\u201d that American forces were responsible for the deadly strike on the school in the southern Iranian town of Minab, though the investigation has not yet been completed. Schools are protected under international law<\/a>, and targeting them is a war crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cReuters<\/em> was unable to determine more details about the investigation, including what evidence contributed to the tentative assessment, what type of munition was used, who was responsible, or why the U.S. might have struck the school,\u201d the outlet noted. \u201cThe officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, did not rule out the possibility that new evidence could emerge that absolves the U.S. of responsibility and points to another responsible party in the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf a US role were to be confirmed,\u201d Reuters<\/em> added, \u201cthe strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties<\/a> in decades of US conflicts in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HuffPost<\/em>\u2018s Akbar Shahid Ahmed echoed<\/a> Reuters<\/em>\u2019 reporting, writing that Pentagon<\/a> officials \u201ctold Congress in multiple briefings this week that they believed the US was most likely responsible (though probe ongoing).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reporting came on the heels of a New York Times<\/em><\/a> analysis that concluded the US was \u201cmost likely to have carried out the strike,\u201d given that American forces were simultaneously bombarding an adjacent Iranian naval base. The Times<\/em> also rejected the claim<\/a> that an Iranian missile hit the elementary school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe strikes were first reported<\/a> on social media<\/a> shortly after 11:30 am local time,\u201d the Times<\/em> reported. \u201cAn analysis of those posts\u2014as well as bystander photos and videos captured within an hour of the strikes\u2014helps corroborate that the school was hit at the same time as the naval base. One video, pinpointed by geolocation experts<\/a>, showed several large plumes of smoke<\/a> billowing from the area of the base and the school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beth Van Schaack, a former State Department official who currently teaches at Stanford University\u2019s Center for Human Rights<\/a> and International Justice, told the Times<\/em> that \u201cgiven the US\u2019 intelligence capabilities, they should have known that a school was in the vicinity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump administration<\/a> officials have said very little about the Iranian school strike in their triumphant rhetoric about the war, which Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth hailed<\/a> as the \u201cmost lethal, most complex, and most precise aerial operation in history.\u201d Hegseth has also openly dismissed<\/a> what he\u2019s called \u201cstupid rules of engagement,\u201d rejecting constraints on US forces that are designed to prevent the killing of civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the school strike during a March 4 press conference, Hegseth responded: \u201cAll I know\u2014all I can say is that we\u2019re investigating that. We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we\u2019re taking a look and investigating that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> referred reporters to the Pentagon when asked about the attack, but added that \u201cthe United States<\/a> would not target, deliberately target, a school,\u201d in purported contrast to the Iranian government, which Rubio claimed is \u201cdeliberately targeting civilians\u201d because \u201cthey are a terroristic regime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two first responders to the scene of the attack, as well as a parent of one of the killed children<\/a>, told Middle East Eye<\/em><\/a> earlier this week that the school was hit by two strikes, a possible \u201cdouble-tap\u201d attack. An Al Jazeera<\/em> investigation<\/a> concluded the attack on the school was likely deliberate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees<\/a> International, called<\/a> the school attack \u201ca horrific US war crime, up there with My Lai,\u201d referring to US soldiers\u2019 massacre of Vietnamese civilians in 1968<\/a>. The US military initially covered up the massacre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a sane world, Hegseth would resign, Congress would hold immediate hearings and establish an investigation, and the US would come clean,\u201d Konyndyk wrote on social media<\/a>. \u201cNone of that is likely, so international mechanisms should kick in, including the [International Criminal Court<\/a>]. And Hegseth should probably talk to a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, as US and Israeli officials vowed to ramp up their assault on Iran, two boys\u2019 schools southwest of Tehran<\/a> were reportedly bombed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe targeting of civilians, educational facilities, and medical institutions constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law,\u201d a group of\u00a0United Nations<\/a>\u00a0experts\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An aerial view of a graveyard as funerals are held for students and staff from a girls\u2019 school killed in a likely US strike on March 3, 2026 in Minab, Iran. \u00a0(Photo: Handout\/Getty Images) \u201cIf a US role were to be confirmed, the strike would rank among the worst cases… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47085"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47086,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47085\/revisions\/47086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}