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EVIDENCE ANALYSED BY international media and independent investigators indicates that fragments found at the site of a deadly strike on a primary school in southern Iran are consistent with a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, contradicting claims by US President Donald Trump that Iran may have been responsible.
At least 165 people, many of them children, were killed when the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab was struck on 28 February, local officials have said.
Investigators say the available evidence suggests the school was struck during a series of precision-guided missile attacks targeting a Iranian naval military base adjacent to the building.
The strike occurred during the opening hours of the US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran.
Photos of missile debris published by Iranian state media IRIB News appear to show components from a Tomahawk missile, according to an analysis by The New York Times.
The fragments include parts marked ‘Made in USA’ and a component labelled ‘SDL ANTENNA’, part of a satellite data link system used in more modern versions of the weapon.
The New York Times said the markings and serial numbers on the fragments match those used by the US Department of Defense and its contractors to catalogue munitions, with one part linked to a 2014 defence contract.
Other remnants were stamped with the name of Globe Motors, an Ohio manufacturer that has received US military contracts for actuator motors used in Tomahawk guidance systems.
Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician who now works with the investigative collective Bellingcat, also identified the components as belonging to a Tomahawk missile.
Although the exact location and method of recovery of the fragments, and whether they are directly linked to the school strike, remain unclear, the pieces bear serial numbers and markings consistent with the way the US Department of Defense and its contractors catalogue and identify munitions.
Tomahawk cruise missiles are long-range precision weapons that can be launched from submarines or naval vessels and have been a central part of the US arsenal for decades.
The missile itself is manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems, with guidance and targeting systems produced by Lockheed Martin.
BBC Verify said several weapons experts who reviewed the footage concluded the munition was a US Tomahawk cruise missile.
The use of a Tomahawk, combined with evidence that several strikes hit the area at the same time, makes it highly unlikely that an Iranian missile was responsible.
The United States is the only participant in the ongoing war known to possess Tomahawk missiles. Israel is not believed to operate the weapon.
The US military’s most senior officer, General Dan Caine, said earlier this month that Navy-launched Tomahawks were among the first weapons used in strikes along Iran’s southern coast on the first day of the war.
In a briefing on Wednesday, General Caine presented a map that plotted American and Israeli strikes on Iran over the first 100 hours of the war.
Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of @thejointstaff, shows the logistics of Operation Epic Fury pic.twitter.com/6Hn4F8H9Rk
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 4, 2026
He said that Israel had mostly struck northern Iran while the US had targeted the south. Minab is located along the southern coast of Iran.
The strike on the school occurred close to a Revolutionary Guard Corps naval facility in Minab.
Previous satellite imagery and verified footage analysed by journalists had already established that the school sits near, but separate from, the military compound.
Video footage analysed by BBC Verify and the investigative site Bellingcat appears to show a Tomahawk missile striking an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval facility close to the school.
The footage, released by Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency and geolocated by Bellingcat, shows the missile seconds before impact.
Smoke is already visible rising from the direction of the school at that point, suggesting the area had already been hit by earlier strikes.
The moment when Israeli and American terrorists struck #Minab school#minabmassacre#MINABSCHOOL pic.twitter.com/kHJEOukowj
— Mehr News Agency (@MehrnewsCom) March 8, 2026
The clinic that appears to be struck in the video lies roughly 200 metres from the school building.
Satellite imagery reviewed by investigators shows damage to two structures within the missile’s likely impact zone, including the clinic.
Despite mounting evidence that a US missile struck the school, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Iran may have been responsible for the strike on the school.
“Iran also has some Tomahawks,” the president said at a press conference yesterday when asked about the incident.
“Numerous other nations have Tomahawks. They buy them from us.”
RAJU: Footage shows an American missile likely destroyed the Iranian girls' school. Will the US accept any respons--
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 9, 2026
TRUMP: Well, I haven't seen it. I will say that the Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is sold and used by other countries. Iran has some… pic.twitter.com/03NLQ8flhO
However, according to defence experts and US military records cited by The New York Times, Iran does not possess Tomahawk missiles and would lack the specialised equipment required to programme and launch them even if it somehow obtained one.
Only two other countries, Britain and Australia, are known to currently operate Tomahawk missiles, while Japan and the Netherlands have agreed to purchase them.
Asked again about the incident yesterday, Trump said the matter was still under investigation.
“I just don’t know enough about it,” he said. “It’s something I was told is under investigation… Whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report.”
The Pentagon has previously acknowledged it was “aware of reports concerning civilian harm” during the opening phase of the war but has not confirmed whether US strikes were responsible for the school attack.
According to reporting by CBS News, an early US assessment suggested the United States was “likely” responsible for the strike but that the school was not deliberately targeted and may have been hit in error.
Restrictions on reporting inside Iran and a widespread internet blackout have made it difficult to independently verify details of the incident or confirm casualty figures.
Iranian authorities have blamed the United States and Israel for the strike. Israel has said its forces were not operating in the immediate area at the time.
The attack has also sparked political reaction in Ireland.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil last week that he condemned the killing of children but stopped short of accusing the United States or Israel of responsibility.
“I will condemn the killing of children anywhere in any situation,” Martin said during Leaders’ Questions on Tuesday.
“Children and innocent civilians must be prioritised without question.”
Opposition leaders criticised the Government for failing to explicitly condemn the attacks.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the deaths of schoolchildren highlighted the human cost of the conflict.
“Instead of dialogue and negotiation, we have assassination and dead schoolgirls in large numbers,” McDonald said.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik also referenced the incident in her criticism of Martin’s upcoming visit to the White House.
“Worse again, in a fortnight [Martin] will genuflect before the man responsible for this global disorder and will do so in the name of the people of Ireland, all without offering any principled criticism of Trump’s warmongering,” Bacik said.
“It is warmongering. Trump’s war has consequences. Some 200 children were killed in a strike on an Iranian primary school.”
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews criticised Trump’s claim that Iran may have struck its own school, describing it as a “big lie” designed to distract attention.
President Trump's latest use of the "big lie" tactic last night was to claim that #Iran somehow possesses US-made tomahawk missiles and fired upon its own girls school.
— Barry Andrews MEP (@BarryAndrewsMEP) March 10, 2026
Such blatant lies are meant to distract.
He knows the world will move on. pic.twitter.com/F9AN9Yx9jJ
“Such blatant lies are meant to distract,” Andrews said in a post on X.
“He knows the world will move on.”
Need more clarity and context on what is happening in the Middle East? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.
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