As the US and Israel’s war against Iran approaches its second week, one particular attack stands out as the bloodiest incident of the conflict so far.
On February 28, during the opening hours of the attack on Iran, a missile struck a girls’ school in southern Iran, killing more than 170 people. Most of them were female students.
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Since then, Israel and the United States have sought to distance themselves from the attack, despite mounting evidence that the United States was involved in the killing. For critics, the school bombing has become a frightening symbol of the war waged by the United States and Israel, with Iran responding by firing thousands of missiles and drones at Israeli and American facilities in the region, as well as Gulf states that have tried hard to stay out of the conflict.
So what do we know about the Totem Incident, which for many shaped the early years of the war?
What happened in Iran’s school strike?
The girls’ school, Shajare Tayebeh, was located in the city of Minab, near an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) base.
The school was attacked by a missile at around 10:45 a.m. local time (7:15 GMT) on February 28, during peak classroom activity. The explosion destroyed a two-story building, causing the roof to collapse on top of the students and teachers inside.
At least 170 people were killed, most of them children. Dozens of others were injured.
The school is located in Minab, in Iran’s strategic Hormozgan province, overlooking the Strait of Hormuz and home to several Revolutionary Guard naval facilities.
Iran immediately blamed the U.S.-Israel coalition for the attack, but both countries denied responsibility.
Satellite images showed the school intact earlier that morning. That morning, American and Israeli airstrikes began in Minab and other areas of Hormozgan.
Who is Iran blaming for the attack?
Iran blamed both the United States and Israel for the attack.
On February 28, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared photos of an attack in which he said a girls’ school was destroyed and “innocent children” were killed.
“These crimes against the Iranian people will not go unsolved,” Araghchi wrote in a post to X.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghai also condemned the “blatant crime” and urged action from the UN Security Council.
What does the evidence show?
Footage from the scene suggests the school was likely hit with a Tomahawk missile.
Preliminary investigations suggest the school may have been hit by a U.S. missile due to misaiming, but the exact circumstances are still being investigated.
Analysts say the airstrike may have been prompted by old targeting information because the school is on the same block as a building used by the Revolutionary Guards Navy and the school grounds were originally part of the base.
For years, schools were segregated and had their own walls and entrances.
“U.S. Central Command does not seem to be keeping its target list up to date,” Mark Cancian, a former Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al Jazeera.
“Apparently, the building was transferred from military use to school several years ago, but the Central Command’s target observation room was unable to detect the change,” he added.
The Shaheed Absaran Clinic, under the supervision of the Revolutionary Guards Naval Medical Command, is approximately 238 meters (780 feet) from the site, and the Sayyed Al-Shohada Revolutionary Guards Cultural Complex is 286 meters (938 feet) from the site.
What does the US say about strikes?
US President Donald Trump initially suggested that Iran itself may have been involved in the attack, but there was no evidence then or now to suggest an Iranian role in the attack.
“From what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” President Trump said Saturday. “We believe this was done by Iran, because, as you know, their munitions are very inaccurate. They have no accuracy at all. It was done by Iran.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stood behind President Trump at the time. He declined to endorse Trump’s assessment and instead reiterated that the Pentagon is investigating the incident.
However, the New York Times reported on Wednesday that the school was hit by a U.S. Tomahawk missile due to misaiming. The newspaper cited U.S. officials as saying the investigation was ongoing, but preliminary findings point to the U.S. being responsible.
When asked by reporters about this report, President Trump replied, “I don’t know about that.”
President Trump told reporters on Monday that Iran also “has some Tomahawks,” a claim widely denied by military experts.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the United States has no intention of intentionally targeting schools.
“Members of the (Trump) administration say the investigation is ongoing and they cannot comment on a public investigation,” Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reported from Washington, D.C.
What did Israel say?
Israel denies any involvement.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said: “We checked multiple times and found no connection between the (Israeli military) and what happened at the school.”
What do the Democrats want from America?
Nearly all U.S. Senate Democrats signed a letter to Hegseth calling for an “expedited investigation.”
“The consequences of this school attack are horrific. The majority of those killed in the attack were girls between the ages of 7 and 12, and neither the United States nor the Israeli government has yet taken responsibility for this attack,” the letter, signed by 46 senators, said.
The letter asks for answers to a series of questions, including whether the U.S. military conducted airstrikes, what steps the military took to prevent or reduce harm to civilians, and what role artificial intelligence tools played in the operations.
If the U.S. role is confirmed, Cancian said, “it would be an embarrassment to the military because they were otherwise running a pretty sound operation. It would stir up some anti-war sentiment in Congress and the public.”
Has something like this happened to you before?
Despite U.S. claims that it targets only military facilities and individuals, the U.S. military has a long history of killing civilians, sometimes in secret.
During NATO’s 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, the United States attacked the Chinese embassy annex in Belgrade, mistaking it for a Yugoslav military facility.
The airstrike killed three Chinese journalists and injured more than 20 others.
Washington later said the bombing occurred because intelligence analysts relied on old maps and mistakenly identified the embassy compound as a military target.
The incident sparked a major diplomatic crisis with China and led to mass protests in front of U.S. diplomatic missions in Beijing and other cities.
“During Desert Storm in 1991, the United States attacked the Amiriya bunker in Baghdad, believing it to be a command and control facility,” Kancian explained.
“Only civilians were taken, and 403 people died,” he added.
Operation Desert Storm was a U.S.-led air-ground operation during the Gulf War that began after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. The coalition launched a major air campaign against Iraq in January 1991, aiming to destroy Iraq’s military infrastructure, guidance networks, and command centers before launching a ground offensive.
In the incident, two precision-guided bombs penetrated an underground bunker, killing more than 400 people, many of them women and children. The attack was one of the deadliest civilian casualties of the war and was widely condemned internationally.
At the time, the United States relied primarily on intelligence-gathering satellites, four-star General Merrill McPeak told Al Jazeera in 2021.
“I had no idea it was a place for civilians to evacuate. I thought it was a military bunker with a command and control facility,” McPeak told journalist Sofia Barbarani. Mr. McPeak served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force during the Gulf War.
In the Belgrade incident, the CIA fired a mid-level intelligence officer who was responsible for identifying the target. Six senior managers were also disciplined.
No criminal charges were filed. However, the United States later paid the Chinese government $28 million for damages to the embassy and $4.5 million to the victims’ families.
In the Amiriya incident, the U.S. military did not determine that the airstrike was a mistake, and no personnel were fired or disciplined. U.S. officials maintained that the bunker was a legitimate military target and was also being used to protect civilians.
Decades ago, in what became known as the 1968 My Lai massacre, U.S. soldiers killed between 347 and 504 civilians and gang-raped women in villages during the Vietnam War. Although the U.S. military initially covered up the war crimes, revelations by journalists Seymour Hersh and Ronald Ridenhour brought the My Lai devastation to the world’s attention, fueling anti-war sentiment in the United States and increasing calls for accountability.
Twenty-six soldiers were indicted, but only Lt. William Carey Jr., the leader of the platoon involved, was convicted. He was sentenced to life in prison, but his sentence was commuted and he ended up spending only three and a half years under house arrest.
The investigation into the Minab school bombing is still ongoing, but experts say that even if the United States officially acknowledges responsibility, it may only have limited results.
“If it turns out that one person was responsible for the mistake, there is a possibility of disciplinary action,” Cancian said.
“However, the Secretary (Hegseth) has repeatedly told service members, ‘I have your back,’ and is unlikely to take action,” he added.
