US President Donald Trump has described the missile strike that hit a girls' school in Iran earlier this year as an unintended consequence of war, insisting that civilians were not deliberately targeted. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, Trump said the incident, which claimed the lives of more than 170 students and teachers in the southern Iranian city of Minab, remains under investigation. He stressed that there was no intention to strike the school.
"Nobody did that on purpose," Trump said when asked about the attack. Referring to the broader conflict, he added that tragic mistakes can occur during military operations and that the circumstances surrounding the strike are still being examined. The February 28 strike occurred on the opening day of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school quickly became one of the deadliest civilian incidents of the conflict and sparked international concern over the protection of non-combatants during wartime.
Questions over responsibility intensified after video footage emerged showing a missile striking the school complex. Independent weapons analysts and open-source investigators later suggested that the weapon visible in the footage closely resembled a Tomahawk cruise missile, a system used by the US military. Several investigations have pointed to the likelihood that American forces were responsible for the strike, although the Pentagon has not publicly confirmed the findings of any preliminary inquiry.
Trump's comments mark a shift from his earlier statements, when he had suggested that Iran itself may have been responsible for the explosion. In recent weeks, however, he has repeatedly said he would wait for the results of the official investigation before drawing conclusions.
US military officials have acknowledged that a detailed review of the incident is underway. According to officials, the investigation has been particularly complex because the school was located close to an active Iranian military installation, raising questions about targeting procedures and civilian-risk assessments.
Human rights organisations and legal experts have called for a transparent accounting of the incident, arguing that any attack resulting in large-scale civilian casualties warrants close scrutiny under international humanitarian law. Several groups have urged authorities to determine whether adequate precautions were taken to prevent harm to civilians before the strike was launched.