Rights group says Tomahawk missile likely used in Minab school strike that killed at least 170 people, mostly children.
Published On 16 Mar 2026
The United States is responsible for an attack on an Iranian primary school that killed at least 170 people, most of them children, Amnesty International has said in a new investigation, urging accountability for the assault.
The rights group said on Monday that a US-manufactured Tomahawk missile was likely used in the attack on the school in the southern city of Minab on February 28.
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“Tomahawk missiles are used exclusively by US forces in this conflict and are precision-guided missiles,” it said.
Using satellite imagery, video footage and interviews with experts, Amnesty said its investigation showed the school was “directly struck” alongside a dozen other structures in an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound.
“This points to a failure by US forces to take feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm in carrying out the attack, which is a serious breach of international humanitarian law,” the organisation said.
“The fact that the school building was directly targeted and was previously part of the IRGC compound raises concerns that US forces may have relied on outdated intelligence and failed in their obligation to do everything feasible to verify that the intended target was a military objective.”
Rights advocates have pointed to the Minab attack as evidence of potential war crimes being committed by Israel and the US in their war on Iran, which legal experts say was launched late last month in violation of international law.
While Washington has said it is investigating the incident, US President Donald Trump’s administration faces growing calls to carry out a thorough probe and ensure accountability for what happened.
United Nations experts have described the school attack as “a grave assault on children” while US Democratic lawmakers have urged the Trump administration to “provide clear answers to the American public and Congress about how and why this tragedy unfolded”.
As the US-Israeli war on Iran continues, experts have raised alarm about comments made by senior US officials, appearing to disregard international law.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested earlier this month that Washington would not abide by “stupid rules of engagement” in its military offensive against Iran.
“America, regardless of what so-called international institutions say, is unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history,” Hegseth told reporters on March 2.
“No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives.”
In Monday’s statement about the Minab attack, Amnesty International said the individuals responsible for planning and carrying out the deadly strike must be held accountable.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, the group’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said if Washington failed to identify the building as a school yet went ahead with the strike, “this would indicate gross negligence in the planning of the attack”.
It also “would point to a shameful intelligence failure on the part of the US military and a serious violation of international humanitarian law”, she said.
Alternatively, Guevara-Rosas said the US may have known the school was adjacent to the IRGC compound and gone ahead with the attack without taking “all feasible precautions” to minimise civilian harm.
In that case, the attack “would amount to recklessly launching an indiscriminate attack which killed and injured civilians and must be investigated as a war crime”, she said.
