Iranian state media has released footage that appears to show a US missile targeting an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) naval base adjacent to a school where scores of children were killed.
A new video posted on Iran’s semi-state news agency Mehr News shows for the first time a missile striking the area of Minab in southern Iran on February 28th.
The footage, taken from a nearby construction site, shows munitions that experts say match those of a U.S. military BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk land-attack missile (TLAM) that struck inside an IRGC base.
As the camera pans to the right, a huge plume of smoke can be seen rising from the direction of Shajare Tayyiba school, where at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed, according to Iranian state media.
This adds to a body of evidence that seemingly contradicts President Donald Trump’s claims that Iran was involved in the attack, and adds to a tally of CNN reporting, expert analysis, and other news outlets that have acknowledged that the U.S. military was likely involved in the school attack.
“From what I’ve seen, it was done by Iran,” Trump told reporters Saturday, characterizing Iran’s weapons as “very inaccurate.”
The government has become more cautious about directly attributing responsibility for the strikes. When asked by a reporter if President Trump’s claims were true, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “Yes, we are investigating, but Iran is the only country targeting civilians.” However, prior to Trump’s remarks, the White House had not ruled out the possibility of a U.S. military attack.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about Sunday’s use of Tomahawk missiles. When asked earlier about the airstrike, U.S. Central Command told CNN: “It would be inappropriate to comment given the incident remains under investigation.”
Sam Rea, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Research, told CNN that the ammunition in the video matches a U.S. Tomahawk.
“First of all, it fits the visual characteristics of TLAM,” he said. “Cross-shaped shape with centrally mounted wings and a tail kit at the rear. Second, the video was taken at a distance of approximately 250 meters (820 feet) from the potential point of impact, which means the munition must be large. This rules out other munitions with similar visual characteristics, such as the GBU-69B, which are in the U.S. stockpile.”
Other weapons experts consulted by CNN agreed with this assessment, adding that TLAM is often used to launch a salvo before gaining air superiority. It was not immediately clear which building exactly was hit, but a CNN analysis suggested it may have hit a building inside or right next to a clinic run by the Revolutionary Guards on the base.
Experts say the Tomahawk missile is operated only by the U.S. Navy, not Israel, and is fired from surface ships and submarines.
CNN’s analysis of previous satellite images, geolocation videos, public statements from U.S. officials and assessments from military experts concluded Friday that the United States was likely responsible for the attack.
At the time, CNN was unable to examine images of the remains of the weapons used in the attacks, which it typically provides to military experts to assess the providence.
CNN continues to work to obtain images of the remains of the ammunition that struck the school. Such evidence is important in assessing liability for the strike, and without it the assessment is inconclusive.
Still, other evidence points to U.S. responsibility for the strike, which occurred Saturday morning, the first day of Iran’s labor and school week.
Videos geolocated by CNN show that the school was attacked at about the same time as the base, with one video showing smoke billowing from both the Revolutionary Guards compound and the school building.
Satellite images from 2013 showed that the school and the Revolutionary Guards base were once part of the same site. However, images from 2016 revealed that a fence had been erected to separate the school from the rest of the base, and a separate entrance to the school had been constructed. In December 2025, images showed dozens of people playing on what appeared to be a ball court in a school courtyard.
NR Jenzen Jones, a military expert and director of the Agency for Arms Research (ARES), told CNN that satellite images and video “depict multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous attacks” that hit both Revolutionary Guards compounds and schools.
Initially, speculation swirled online that the school explosion was caused by an accidental detonation by Iranian air defenses as the Revolutionary Guards tried to repel an airstrike.
However, Jenzen-Jones said that explanation was unlikely as recent images of the naval base showed significant damage to the building, suggesting it was hit with an airborne precision-guided munition rather than a “malfunctioning air defense missile”.
“We are witnessing targeted attacks that appear to be aimed at disabling those buildings. That is the most likely outcome,” he added.
Jenzen-Jones also said military bases like the one in Minab are often among the “pre-planned targets” attacked in the early stages of a conflict.
U.S. officials confirmed that the United States struck military targets in southern Iran. At a press conference on Wednesday, Gen. Dan Cain, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presented a map of how the United States and Israel planned their attack on Iran over the first 100 hours of the war. He said Israel mainly attacked northern Iran while the US targeted the south.
