President of the USA Donald tramp accused Iran of school attack in which more than 100 girls died and said that the US was "winning the war", while an analysis of evidence collected by the New York Times found that US forces were to blame for the attack.
The attack happened on February 28. The rockets hit an elementary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab, and the attack was linked to simultaneous US strikes on a nearby Revolutionary Guard naval base, the New York Times reports.
Although no side has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, available information indicates that the school was hit by a precision strike at the same time as the facilities of the IRGC naval base located near the Strait of Hormuz were attacked.
Asked if US forces had bombed the school, White House spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt said, "Not to our knowledge," adding that "the War Department is investigating the matter."
Photo: Iranian Foreign Media Department via APDigging graves for dead children
Trump: It's not us – it's Iran
In the meantime, the President of the USA, Donald Trump, came forward and rejected the blame and accused - Iran!
"From what I've seen, it was Iran that did it ... we believe it was Iran. They're very imprecise when it comes to weapons," Trump said.
In the continuation of his address, he spoke about the current situation in the conflict in the Middle East.
"We are winning this war by a huge margin. We have completely destroyed their entire evil empire. It will continue, I'm sure, for a little while longer," the US President pointed out.
The deadliest incident with civilian casualties since the beginning of the war
The attack on the school is considered the deadliest incident involving civilian casualties since the United States and Israel began military operations against Iran. According to Iranian health authorities and state media, at least 175 people were killed in the attack, many of them students of the Shajarah Tayebeh school.
The school is located in the city of Minab in the south of the country, more than 1000 kilometers from Tehran, but close to the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. The attack happened during classes, because in Iran the working week starts on Saturday, so there were students and teachers in the building at the time of the attack.
The first information about the explosions appeared on social networks around 11:30 local time. Analysis of photos and videos taken shortly after the attack shows that heavy clouds of smoke rose simultaneously from the direction of the naval base and the school.
Photo: Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA via APVictims of the attack
The footage, which was later verified by researchers, shows people searching the ruins for survivors, while wailing and crying can be heard in the background.
To determine more precisely what happened, the New York Times commissioned new satellite images from Planet Labs. They show that at least six buildings inside the base of the Revolutionary Guard were hit, as well as the school building itself. Four facilities in the base were completely destroyed, while two other visible impact points are in the middle of the roof, which indicates precise attacks.
