The Iranian elementary school building where scores of children were killed as the U.S. and Israel began their massive aerial campaign was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site, multiple people familiar with the strike told The Washington Post.
The deadly attack occurred in the first few hours of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran — just as parents were hurrying to the two-story schoolhouse to take their kids home to safety — and killed at least 175 people, many of them children, according to Iranian state media.
It is still not clear why the building was hit, but one person familiar with the school strike said the building had been identified as a factory and had been an approved strike target. A second person familiar said there was an arms depot target located in the same area and did not know if the United States hit the school by mistake, or if U.S. officials had the wrong intelligence and thought the building was the arms depot.
🚨🇺🇸🇮🇷 BREAKING:
Multiple media outlets are confirming what Iran's been saying: A U.S. Tomahawk missile hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab.
Death toll: 165-180, mostly children aged 7-12.
Israel doesn't possess Tomahawk missiles. Only the… https://t.co/6TXhmROkUn pic.twitter.com/EawEZhOnAL
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 8, 2026
