March 12, 2026, 11:00 a.m. EDT / Updated March 12, 2026, 11:09 a.m. EDT
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WASHINGTON — More than 120 Democratic members of Congress are demanding detailed information from the Pentagon on how the U.S. military is limiting civilian casualties in Iran and the role artificial intelligence plays in choosing targets.
In a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth According to a statement sent Thursday morning and obtained by NBC News, the members highlighted a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Iran that killed more than 170 people, most of them children. The strike took place in Minab, Iran, in the early hours of February 28, as the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran.
The U.S. military said it was still investigating the attack, but preliminary information shows that not only was a U.S. munition likely responsible for the attack, but also that outdated intelligence may be behind the target selection, NBC News reported, citing four sources familiar with the preliminary findings.
In their letter, the lawmakers asked Hegseth why the target was selected and whether the Pentagon will investigate a possible war crime.
They also ask what role AI played in target selection, as well as in evaluating intelligence that informed target selection, and in making legal decisions during the ongoing military operation.
“If artificial intelligence is used, is it subject to human review and when? Was artificial intelligence, including the use of the Maven Smart System, used to identify Shajareh Tayyebeh School as a target? If so, has a human verified the accuracy of this target?” they ask in the letter.
The lawmakers called on the Pentagon to respond to their questions by March 20.
The consequences of a strike at a school in Minab, Iran, on February 28.Abbas Zakeri / More news via ReutersA Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on congressional outreach.
“We should all be deeply ashamed of the killing of 175 civilians, most of them young children, who had nothing to do with this horrific and reckless war,” one of the lawmakers who signed the letter, Rep. Sara Jacobs, Democrat of California, said in a statement. “If the United States is indeed responsible for this attack, then this administration must immediately take responsibility, be held accountable, and repair the harm done to survivors and victims’ loved ones. Instead, President Trump denies any U.S. involvement in this strike and blames Iran without any evidence and before the investigation is even complete. I will continue to push for answers and accountability – not just for this strike, but for the broader picture of harm caused to civilians by U.S. strikes and Israelis in Iran.”
Trump has said, without evidence, that Iran may be responsible for the attack – a position that is at odds with the preliminary findings of the US military investigation.
Asked whether the United States had struck the school in Iran, Trump told reporters Saturday: “No, in my opinion, and from what I’ve seen, it was done by Iran.” »
Hegseth was with Trump as he spoke with reporters, and when asked if it was true that Iran had struck the school, he said, “We’re certainly investigating,” adding that “the only party that targets civilians is Iran.”
The law of armed conflict requires the United States to distinguish between civilians and combatants and to take all possible measures to protect civilians. But just days after the war began, Hegseth said there would be “no stupid rules of engagement” for Operation Epic Fury, the ongoing U.S. military operation in Iran.
The rules of engagement define how the military can and must operate in a conflict, in accordance with the law of armed conflict. They often define who and what can be targeted in a specific conflict.
In a video released Wednesday morning, the commander of U.S. Central Command acknowledged that the United States is using AI in the war in Iran.
“Our warfighters leverage a variety of advanced AI tools. These systems help us sift through large amounts of data in seconds so our leaders can stand out and make smarter decisions faster than the enemy can react,” Admiral Brad Cooper said in the video produced by CENTCOM and posted to social media.
“Humans will still make the final decisions about what to shoot and when to shoot, but advanced AI tools can transform processes that previously took hours or even days into seconds,” he said.
On Tuesday, Hegseth accused Iran of using civilian areas to carry out military operations.
“They are deliberately firing missiles from schools and hospitals, deliberately targeting innocent people because they know their military is being systematically degraded and wiped out,” Hegseth said during a Pentagon press briefing. He provided no evidence to support this claim.
CENTCOM issued a security warning to Iranian civilians on Sunday, saying the Iranian regime is using heavily populated civilian areas to conduct military operations, including launching drones and ballistic missiles. CENTCOM urged civilians to stay indoors because, as the regime moves equipment such as mobile launchers into civilian areas, such equipment could become a legitimate military target under international law.
“They are not our target,” a U.S. official said of the civilians, adding that Iran’s security apparatus continues to be a target of the U.S. military. “We will do everything possible to mitigate harm to civilians, but we cannot guarantee it. »
