New Video Appears to Show U.S. Tomahawk Strike Near Iranian School Where Over 160 Children Were Killed
The video, published by the semi-official Iranian outlet Mehr News, appears to show a missile striking an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base in Minab on February 28. The footage was reportedly filmed from a nearby construction site and captures what weapons experts say closely resembles a U.S. Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) impacting inside the military compound.
Moments later, as the camera pans across the horizon, a massive plume of smoke rises from the direction of the nearby Shajareh Tayyiba elementary school, the same school where Iranian state and international media say at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed in the strike.
The emerging evidence complicates claims made by President Donald Trump, who told reporters that Iran itself was responsible for the attack. This was a claim that many right-wing Iranian pundits also peddled, originating from a Telegram group chat and then spreading from there.
“Based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump said Saturday, describing Iranian munitions as “very inaccurate.”
However, the administration has stopped short of formally assigning blame. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the incident remains under investigation, though he reiterated that “the only side that targets civilians is Iran.” The Pentagon has also declined to comment on whether U.S. forces deployed Tomahawk missiles during the strike.
Weapons analysts who reviewed the footage say the munition visible in the video matches the shape and flight profile of a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile, a weapon that is launched from American naval ships and submarines.
Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told CNN the missile’s cruciform wing shape and tail configuration are consistent with a Tomahawk. “The munition appears large enough that it rules out other U.S. weapons with similar visual features,” Lair explained. “And given the proximity of the camera, roughly 250 meters from the impact, the size of the projectile is a key indicator.”
Other weapons experts consulted by CNN reached similar conclusions.
Tomahawk missiles are frequently used in the opening stages of military campaigns, often fired before air superiority has been established. Military analysts believe the intended target may have been a building within the IRGC base, possibly a medical facility operated by the Guard Corps. Still, given the egregious amount of money America spends on war and weapons, this was a grave failure that should have been prevented.
Only the U.S. Navy operates Tomahawk missiles in the region, making Israel an unlikely operator of the weapon.
Previous investigations using satellite imagery, geolocated videos, and weapons analysis had already suggested that U.S. forces were likely responsible for the strike. However, analysts have emphasized that definitive attribution typically requires examining fragments of the missile used, evidence that has not yet been publicly recovered.
Still, additional details are beginning to paint a clearer picture of what happened that morning.
Videos analyzed by investigators show that the school and the IRGC base were struck at nearly the same time, with smoke rising simultaneously from both locations.
Recent satellite images taken just months before the attack showed dozens of children gathered in the school courtyard.
Weapons analyst N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, said the available evidence suggests the strikes were likely deliberate attacks on buildings within the base rather than malfunctioning defensive systems. “We’re seeing targeted strikes that appear designed to disable specific structures,” Jenzen-Jones said. “That’s far more consistent with precision-guided munitions than with air defense missiles that have gone astray.”
Earlier speculation online had suggested the school may have been struck accidentally by Iranian air defenses attempting to intercept incoming missiles. But analysts say the damage patterns visible in satellite imagery make that explanation unlikely.
What remains unanswered is whether the strike on the Minab base and the massacre of children at the nearby school were the result of a catastrophic intelligence failure, reckless military planning, or a deliberate decision to fire, knowing civilians were within range.
But here is the uncomfortable truth that rarely makes it into official briefings: when bombs are dropped in densely populated areas, civilian deaths are not a surprise. They are a predictable outcome. In this case, that outcome meant 168 children and 14 teachers who never made it home.
Children woke up that morning expecting a normal school day. Children who packed backpacks, ran across a courtyard, and sat down in classrooms just a few hundred feet away from a military installation they had no control over and no role in.
Now their families are burying them.
And while parents grieve over small graves, politicians thousands of miles away are arguing over whose missile it was.
If the evidence ultimately confirms that the United States was responsible for the strike (which it is currently STRONGLY looking that way), it will not be the first time American military power has left a trail of dead civilians in its wake, and it will not be the first time officials tried to obscure responsibility until the story faded from the news cycle.
We have seen this pattern before in Iraq. In Afghanistan. In Syria. Every time, the same language appears: “investigations,” “uncertainty,” “collateral damage.”
Those children were not soldiers. They were not decision-makers. They were not responsible for the actions of governments, generals, or militias.
They were simply born in the wrong place at the wrong time, in a part of the world where global powers believe missiles are an acceptable way to solve political problems. As an Iranian-American who went to school in Iran for a year, I can’t help but think about how my fate could’ve been similar, had my father decided not to immigrate to America.
As far as I’m concerned, the two idiots are they’ve already been called war criminals, and they really need to be arrested and put on trial at The Hague!
The blame game for this was insane online.