US President Donald Trump said he is “willing to live with” the findings of an official investigation into a deadly missile strike near a girls’ school in Iran, as questions mount over whether American forces were responsible for the attack.
The strike took place during the early phase of the ongoing conflict between the US, Israel and Iran. Iranian authorities said the missile hit near the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab on February 28, killing more than 160 people, most of them schoolgirls.
The school was located close to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval facility that was reportedly among the targets of the military operation.
When asked about the incident, Trump had earlier said he did not yet know enough about what had happened and was waiting for the final findings of the investigation, ABC News reported.
What did the US say?
The White House initially suggested the blast may have been caused by Iranian weapons, with President Donald Trump claiming Tehran’s munitions were “very inaccurate.”
However, video analysis and investigations by experts and the open-source group Bellingcat have pointed to a US-made Tomahawk missile striking a building near the school, raising the possibility that the attack originated from US forces operating in the region, according to ABC News.
The strike has become one of the most controversial incidents of the war so far. Videos and satellite imagery analysed by experts suggested that a US-made missile may have hit a building adjacent to the school during the broader strike on nearby military infrastructure.
UN condemns attack
The United Nations and several human rights organisations have strongly condemned the attack and called for an independent investigation. UN experts described the strike on a school as a grave violation of international humanitarian law and urged authorities to determine responsibility quickly and transparently.