President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he doesn’t believe the US military was responsible for the missile strike that massacred more than 100 schoolchildren in Iran in late February, contradicting the Pentagon’s reported conclusions, the findings of outside analysts, and physical evidence from the scene.
“I don’t think it was us,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. The president did not offer a shred of evidence to support his view and said he has not seen the Pentagon’s findings, which have reportedly been finalized amid mounting fears of a cover-up attempt.
“It’s horrible what happened, but there were missiles flying all over the place,” Trump claimed. The Pentagon’s preliminary findings indicate that the US struck the elementary school in Minab, Iran with a Tomahawk missile while attacking “an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part,” The New York Times reported in March.
Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that “we’ve taken the investigation very seriously” and that the findings would be released at the “appropriate time.”
Watch:
Reporter: Have you seen the report into the Minab school attack, sir?
Trump: I have not seen it. I have to wait for it to be complete. I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem. I don’t know that they’re ever going to say it was one of our missiles. Pete, I… pic.twitter.com/0csB46qL8d
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 24, 2026
Trump’s latest remarks came days after he brushed aside persistent concerns about the deadly strike, saying the incident occurred “a long time ago” and that “nobody did that on purpose.”
“Mistakes are made,” added Trump, who initially tried to blame Iran for the Minab massacre. “War is nasty. But I know it’s under investigation.”
Amnesty International USA lamented in a statement Thursday that “it’s been four months since the deadliest US airstrike against civilians in recent memory, yet we are no closer to getting answers from US authorities about why this happened and who was responsible.”
“The Pentagon must urgently finish its investigation and publicly release the findings. The investigation must consider the military’s intelligence gathering and assessments, as well as targeting decisions, precautions taken, and its use of artificial intelligence. Where sufficient evidence exists, competent authorities must prosecute any person suspected of criminal responsibility,” said Amanda Klasing, the group’s national director for government relations and advocacy.
“Anything less,” she added, “would amount to a cover-up of a serious breach of international humanitarian law and a betrayal of the victims and survivors of this horrific attack.”
NBC News reported earlier this week that “there is growing concern in Congress and the Pentagon that the Trump administration will classify and shield” the results of its investigation from the public.
“Of course they are going to try to classify the report," said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who sits on committees with jurisdiction over the Pentagon.
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.