(CNN) 鈥 The US military accidentally struck an Iranian elementary school, in an attack that state media said killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers, likely due to outdated information about a nearby naval base, according to two sources briefed on the preliminary findings of an ongoing military investigation.
The February 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab occurred while the US military was conducting strikes on a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facility, the initial investigation found.
US Central Command created target coordinates for the strike using outdated information provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which contributed to the mistake, the sources briefed on the preliminary findings told CNN.
In response to a request for comment, a Defense Intelligence Agency spokesperson said, 鈥淭he incident is under investigation; we defer to the Pentagon for further comment.鈥 A spokesperson for US Central Command also declined to comment on the preliminary findings, citing the ongoing investigation.
Satellite imagery from 2013 showed that the school and the IRGC base . But images from 2016 revealed that a fence had been erected to separate the school from the rest of the base, and that a separate entrance to the school had been built. In December 2025, imagery showed dozens of people in the school鈥檚 courtyard apparently playing.
Reuters that military investigators believed it likely the US was behind the strike, and the first reported Wednesday that the reason was due to outdated data. The investigation remains ongoing.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was unaware of the reports that an ongoing military investigation had found, at least preliminarily, that the United States was responsible for a deadly strike on a school in southern Iran.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know about that,鈥 Trump said when asked by CNN鈥檚 Kristen Holmes about the reports and whether he accepted responsibility.
The initial investigative findings raise additional questions about what led to the strike on the school and who was ultimately responsible.
Multiple sources told CNN the preliminary investigation is consistent with what had become increasingly obvious as new evidence continued to emerge publicly in recent days: The US military conducted the strike.
Video geolocated by CNN as filmed from a nearby construction site and released by Mehr News, a semi-official Iranian news agency, striking a location inside the IRGC base on February 28. As the camera pans to the right, a huge plume of smoke can be seen from the direction of the Shajareh Tayyiba school.
Trump had previously asserted that Iran might be to blame for the strike, though when pressed on why no one in his own administration seemed to be publicly supporting that claim, he responded, 鈥溾
鈥淎s the New York Times acknowledges in its own reporting, the investigation is still ongoing,鈥 White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday the strike will be 鈥渢horoughly鈥 investigated, adding the US has 鈥渁ttempted in every way possible to avoid civilian casualties.鈥
He accused Iran, meanwhile, of targeting civilians 鈥渋ndiscriminately.鈥
Missile debris that Iranian officials claim was recovered from the deadly strikes appeared to be from an American Tomahawk cruise missile, a CNN analysis previously found.
Four photographs of the fragments were shared on Telegram by Iran鈥檚 state broadcaster, IRIB, with the caption claiming they were remnants from the strike. It was not possible to confirm whether the fragments, pictured on a table in front of the ruined school building, were from the school strike, a strike on the neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base or elsewhere.
They do, however, appear to be consistent with a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, according to a CNN review and expert analysis.
The Pentagon classifies the missiles as precision-guided munitions. Multiple buildings at the base appear to have been struck by precision missiles.
Trump pushed back against the suggestion the US had carried out the strike in a news conference Monday in which he claimed Iran also had Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, produced by US defense contractor Raytheon, are held by only a small group of US allies authorized to purchase them. Even Israel, one of Washington鈥檚 closest partners, does not possess them, and multiple munitions experts confirmed to CNN that Iran does not have them either.
CNN鈥檚 Christian Edwards and Kristen Holmes contributed to this story
The-CNN-Wire
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