“No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran. We think it was done by Iran — because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions.
Back to stories
A UN Fact-Finding Mission Says There Are "Reasonable Grounds" to Believe the United States Committed War Crimes in Iran — Including the Strike on a Girls' Elementary School in Minab That Killed About 120 Children — Six Months After Trump Said "That Was Done by Iran" and the Pentagon's Own Investigation Stayed Secret
September 17, 2026
On September 17, 2026, the independent international fact-finding mission on Iran, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, reported that it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes during the opening of the February 2026 war — a pair of attacks the mission says killed at least 178 civilians. The central finding concerns the February 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in the southern city of Minab, where Iranian officials say about 120 schoolchildren, most of them girls between 7 and 12, were among roughly 168 to 175 people killed. The mission concluded the strike was an indiscriminate attack causing loss of civilian life, amounting to a war crime under international law. The same report accuses Iran's government of crimes against humanity in its crackdown on anti-government protesters. The finding lands on a question US officials have refused to answer for six months. On March 7, aboard Air Force One, President Trump blamed Iran for the school bombing without evidence — "No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran" — while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing nearby, declined to echo him, saying only "We're certainly investigating." Open-source analysts identified a US Tomahawk cruise missile in footage of the strike; the US is the only combatant in the war that fields Tomahawks. A preliminary US assessment reportedly found the United States "likely" responsible but not deliberately targeting the school. Congress has pressed for the Pentagon's findings all year without success. In March, Tim Kaine led more than 40 senators demanding a "swift investigation"; in July, Kirsten Gillibrand led 24 colleagues demanding the Department release the investigation it reportedly completed in April. As of the report's publication, the White House, State Department and Pentagon had not responded to requests for comment, and the Pentagon investigation remains unreleased. Stances below are relative to the finding of US responsibility and the demand for public accountability: "support" marks officials pressing for the investigation and its release, "oppose" marks officials attributing the strike elsewhere or resisting the accounting.
0
Statements Recorded
See what your representatives said?
0 Statements
No statements recorded yet for this story.
Be the first to submit oneBackground (9)— earlier statements that set the stage▸
“We're certainly investigating. The only side that targets civilians is Iran.
“The killing of school children is appalling and unacceptable under any circumstance. Secretary Hegseth needs to ensure the Department of Defense's ongoing investigation into this strike is thorough.
“The killing of school children is appalling and unacceptable under any circumstance. Secretary Hegseth needs to ensure the Department of Defense's ongoing investigation into this strike is thorough.
“The killing of school children is appalling and unacceptable under any circumstance. Secretary Hegseth needs to ensure the Department of Defense's ongoing investigation into this strike is thorough.
“The killing of school children is appalling and unacceptable under any circumstance. Secretary Hegseth needs to ensure the Department of Defense's ongoing investigation into this strike is thorough.
“But whether it's Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk, a Tomahawk is very generic. … Because I just don't know enough about it. … Whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report.
“There must be a swift investigation into the strikes on this school and any other potential U.S. military actions causing civilian harm. Massive civilian casualty incidents like the attack in Minab are not only detrimental to the Iranian people, who have already suffered so much at the hands of its own government, but they also undermine U.S. national security interests.
“More than four months after the strike, and after the reported submission of the investigation in April, Congress and the American people still have not received the Department's investigation and findings. There is no justification for withholding an unclassified accounting of what happened, what went wrong, and what the Department is doing to prevent recurrence.