Five former US officials, including a prominent military lawyer, have voiced strong criticism against the Pentagon for its prolonged silence regarding potential American involvement in a devastating strike on an Iranian school earlier this year. These officials assert that the failure to release even basic details about the incident after such a significant period is highly unusual and concerning<\/b>.<\/p>\n
On February 28, a missile struck a primary school in Minab during what was described as the opening salvos of the US-Israeli war. According to Iranian officials, the attack resulted in the deaths of 168 people, including approximately 110 children. Despite the gravity of the incident, the Pentagon has, for two months, only stated that the matter is “under investigation.”<\/p>\n
US media reports from early March indicated that US military investigators believed American forces were likely responsible for unintentionally hitting the school, though a final conclusion had not been reached. When questioned by the BBC about the strike and accusations of a lack of transparency, a Pentagon official reiterated that the “incident is currently under investigation,” promising more details when available.<\/p>\n
The BBC’s review of three past cases involving civilian casualties during US military operations reveals a stark contrast. In each instance, the Pentagon released significantly more information within less than a month. Lt Col Rachel E VanLandingham (Ret.), a former Judge Advocate General in the US Air Force and senior legal adviser at US Central Command, stated that the current US position “strikingly departs from the standard response.” She emphasized that past administrations demonstrated a commitment to the law of war and accountability, which she finds “missing” in the current administration’s statements.<\/p>\n
President Trump’s comments on the incident have been inconsistent. On March 7, he attributed blame to Iran without evidence. Days later, when confronted with video evidence of a US Tomahawk missile hitting a military base adjacent to the school, he claimed not to have seen it and baselessly asserted that Iran possessed Tomahawk missiles. On March 11, he denied knowledge of reports suggesting an initial military probe found US responsibility.<\/p>\n
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, when asked by the BBC on March 4, stated, “All I can say is that we’re investigating that. We of course never target civilian targets.” The US Department of Defense has consistently declined to answer multiple questions, including whether the Iranian military base next to the school was a pre-planned target, despite publicly discussing pre-planned operations in other contexts of the war.<\/p>\n
Last month, the BBC independently corroborated video footage showing a US Tomahawk missile striking the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) base next to the school. US media reports, citing unnamed military officials, suggested a preliminary inquiry determined a US missile hit the school due to outdated target coordinates from a US intelligence agency. The Pentagon has not commented on these reports.<\/p>\n
Wes Bryant, a former senior adviser on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation at the Pentagon, explained that preliminary inquiries typically establish if civilian harm occurred and if the US was operating in the area. He argued that an investigation’s formal initiation implies prior knowledge of US involvement. “To not even be able to have any comment on it whatsoever is just unacceptable,” Bryant stated.<\/p>\n
Another former defense official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the subject, described the situation as “unusually opaque,” noting that the incident’s complexity doesn’t warrant such secrecy. He added that normally, the Pentagon would take “immediate [or] relatively fast responsibility” before providing full details, making the current silence problematic.<\/p>\n
Congressional Democrats have repeatedly written to Defence Secretary Hegseth, seeking answers about the Minab strike, including whether the US carried it out. The BBC has reviewed two Pentagon response letters, which offered no answers, only stating that an investigating officer from outside the CENTCOM chain of command had been appointed.<\/p>\n
Fifteen Republican members of Congress approached by the BBC, including top national security committee members, declined to comment. However, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana condemned the strike on March 10, telling the New York Times, “I think we made a mistake. It was a terrible, terrible mistake.”<\/p>\n
Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called Pentagon officials’ ongoing investigation response “pathetic and completely inadequate,” confirming no admission of US responsibility in closed-door briefings.<\/p>\n
The BBC’s comparison with historical cases underscores the current administration’s departure from previous norms:<\/p>\n
* Kabul Airport Drone Strike (August 2021):<\/b> Pentagon initially claimed to target an ISIS threat but admitted responsibility and apologized within three weeks after media revealed it killed a family of 10, including seven children.
\n* Kunduz Hospital Bombing (October 2015):<\/b> A US AC-130 helicopter gunship killed at least 42. Within five days, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan gave detailed testimony, and the White House admitted the mistake and apologized.
\n* Al-Amiriyah Shelter Attack (February 1991):<\/b> A US Air Force bombing killed 408 civilians. The administration acknowledged civilian deaths and US involvement from the start, despite claiming it was a military target.<\/p>\n
Annie Shiel, a former US official working on civilian harm reduction, noted a pattern where the US initially denies involvement, only to backtrack after media and NGO reports prove otherwise. While the appointment of an independent investigating officer is a “good start on independence,” Shiel expects further acknowledgment of any US role during the probe.<\/p>\n
Complicating matters, Iranian authorities have not granted independent access to the site, as noted by the UN Fact Finding Mission on Iran. Charles O Blaha, former director of the State Department’s Office of Security and Human Rights, suggested Washington’s lack of transparency might stem from a “reluctance” to contradict the president’s unsubstantiated claim blaming Iran for the strike. He attributed the silence to the administration’s perceived rejection of “any negative news about the war they branded as unpatriotic.”<\/p>\n
#IranSchoolStrike #PentagonSilence #USAccountability #MinabIncident #CivilianCasualties #WarCrimesInvestigation #TransparencyNow #HumanRights #USForeignPolicy #IranUSRelations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pentagon Criticized for Lack of Transparency Over Deadly Incident Five former US officials, including a prominent military lawyer, have voiced strong criticism against the Pentagon for its prolonged silence regarding potential American involvement in a devastating strike on an Iranian school earlier this year. These officials assert that the failure to release even basic details […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}