ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US President Donald Trump dismissed allegations during a meeting with NATO secretary general on Thursday that American forces were responsible for a deadly strike on a school in Iran's Hormozgan province on February 28, amid claims that investigations are underway.
“I don't know if they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault it was because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it's terrible what happened,” Trump said when asked about reports concerning Minab School, one of the US military’s largest civilian casualty incidents for decades, where 156 people including 120 children were killed in a strike on February 28.
"There were missiles flying all over the place, and somebody said it was our missile, well, maybe it wasn't our missile. But I've seen nothing to lead me to believe it was," said Trump during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The remarks came amid claims that authorities were taking the investigation seriously. "When the appropriate time is right, whatever that outcome is, that would be the time to divulge," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
The strike occurred during a joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began on February 28 and triggered weeks of regional hostilities before a ceasefire was reached on April 8.
The school, built in a previous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound, was directly struck by a US-manufactured tomahawk missile alongside 12 other structures on the first day of the war when Iran supreme leader Khamanei was killed.
Amnesty International has renewed calls for accountability over the strike, which the rights group described as a potentially unlawful attack on a civilian school.
"Those responsible for planning and executing an unlawful US strike on a school in Minab, Hormozgan province in Iran that killed 156 people, including over 120 children, must be held accountable," Amnesty said in a report, March 2026, calling for an independent and transparent investigation, accountability, and reparations for victims and their families.
Sky News reported from the school in June and managed to obtain the news of 120 students -73 boys and 47 girls, aged from six to thirteen, and 26 teachers- who were killed in the strikes. They reported that the families gather every evening for several hours near the graves of their children, four months after the fact.
“I just want to see my son one more time and to hug him,” said the mother of Mohammad Taha, whose family gathered around his grave to mark the boy's 10th birthday.
