Investigation additional suggests it was U.S. that struck Iranian faculty, killing 165

The investigative group Bellingcat says the newly launched video “seems to contradict” U.S. President Donald Trump’s declare that Iran was liable for an explosion at an Iranian faculty that killed over 165 individuals at the beginning of the struggle raging within the Mideast.

It comes as mounting proof factors to U.S. culpability for the Feb. 28 strike, which hit a faculty adjoining to a Revolutionary Guard base in Minab, Iran, within the nation’s southern Hormozgan Province. Specialists interviewed by The Related Press, citing satellite tv for pc picture evaluation, say the college was possible struck amid a fast succession of bombs dropped on the compound.

Israel-Iran struggle updates on March 9, 2026

The video shared by Bellingcat is a three-second clip of a video taken the day the college was struck and circulated Sunday (March 8, 2026) by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr information company. The video reveals a munition falling on a constructing, sending a darkish plume into the air that mingles with smoke that possible got here from earlier strikes on the compound. Trevor Ball, a Bellingcat researcher, geolocated the video to a web site close to the college, one thing additionally achieved by the AP.

A mixture of satellite tv for pc photos reveals the Shajareh Tayyebeh women’ faculty in Minab, Iran, earlier than (above) and after being struck amid the U.S.-Israeli battle with Iran, December 1, 2025 (above) and March 4, 2026. Vantor and 2026 Photograph: Planet Labs PBC/Handout through Reuters

Ball recognized the munition as a Tomahawk cruise missile, which solely the U.S. is understood to own on this struggle. It is the primary proof of a munition used within the strike. U.S. Central Command has acknowledged utilizing Tomahawk missiles on this struggle and even launched a photograph of the united statesSpruance, a part of the united statesAbraham Lincoln plane service group positioned inside vary of the college, firing a Tomahawk missile on Feb. 28.

Complicating any evaluation of the incident is the dearth of photos of bomb fragments from the blast. No unbiased company has reached the location through the struggle to analyze.

When requested by a reporter on Saturday whether or not the U.S. was liable for the blast, which killed largely kids, Trump responded, with out offering proof: “No, for my part, primarily based on what I’ve seen, that was achieved by Iran.” Trump added that Iran is “very inaccurate” with their munitions. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth rapidly chimed in to say the US was investigating.

Janina Dill, an skilled on worldwide regulation at Oxford College, wrote on X that even when the strike was a misidentification — and the attacker believed that the college had been part of the neighbouring IRGC base — it could nonetheless be “a really critical violation of worldwide regulation.” “Attackers are beneath an obligation to do every little thing possible to confirm the standing of the focused object,” she wrote.

A number of components level to a US strike.

One is the launching of an evaluation of the incident by the US army. Based on the Pentagon’s directions on processes for mitigating civilian hurt, an evaluation is launched after a bunch of investigators makes an preliminary willpower that the US army could bear culpability.

A U.S. official instructed the AP that the strike was possible U.S. The official spoke anonymously as a result of they weren’t authorised to remark publicly on the delicate matter.

One other is the placement of the college — subsequent to the Revolutionary Guard base and near barracks for a naval unit. The U.S. army has targeted on naval targets and acknowledged strikes within the province, together with one within the neighborhood of the college. Israel, which has denied conducting the strike, has targeted on areas of Iran nearer to Israel and hasn’t reported any strikes south of Isfahan, 800 kilometres (500 miles) away.

Neither the U.S. army’s Central Command nor the Israeli army instantly replied to requests for remark Monday from the AP on Bellingcat’s evaluation.

Talking concerning the U.S. operation at a press convention on March 2, Hegseth mentioned: “America, no matter what so-called worldwide establishments say, is unleashing probably the most deadly and exact air energy marketing campaign in historical past.” “No silly guidelines of engagement,” he mentioned. “No politically appropriate wars. We combat to win, and we do not waste time or lives.”