WASHINGTON — Top U.S. military officials are in final stages of review an internal investigation in a deadly airstrike on Iranian primary school and is preparing to share it with lawmakers, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
But Congress and the Pentagon are increasingly concerned that the Trump administration may classify and hide its findings from the public, four congressional officials and a person familiar with the investigation said.
U.S. Central Command, which led the investigation, completed it, according to the person familiar with the matter. Lawmakers who oversee the Pentagon have not been given any details on its results or a timeline for when they might, this person said.
Asked Wednesday about the strike, including whether he would hold anyone in his administration accountable, President Donald Trump said, “mistakes are made, war is wicked.” He said the investigation was still under investigation and while a report could be released as early as Thursday, reporters should ask Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who is overseeing the process.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the matter was still under investigation.
Making the investigation classified would significantly reduce access to how the deadliest attack on civilians during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran occurred. The attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab took place on the first day of the war, killing more than 170 people, most of them children.
THE The American army aimed the area near the school on Feb. 28, and preliminary findings showed that a U.S. munition was likely responsible for the strike, NBC News reported, citing a U.S. official and a person familiar with the preliminary findings.
The time it took the military to complete the investigation — nearly four months — as well as the difficulties lawmakers said they encountered obtaining information about the war from the Pentagon have fueled concerns that the administration may try to avoid disclosing the results.
“Our concern is that Hegseth will classify the report and prevent its publication,” the person familiar with the matter said.
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who serves on both the Intelligence and Armed Services committees, told NBC News, “Of course they’re going to try to classify the report.”
Another Democratic senator said: “I would be shocked, speechless if they didn’t say it was classified.” »
Classifying the investigation into the attack would seem to contradict the Pentagon’s desire to be transparent about its findings.
CENTCOM Commander Adm. Bradley Cooper told lawmakers last month in sworn testimony that as soon as the investigation is complete, “I am fully committed to transparency.”
“It’s a complex investigation,” Cooper said. He said at the time that the project was almost complete.
In accidental attacks against civilians during military operations, the Pentagon has publicly revealed its role, including armed forces raid in Yemen and a bombings in Iraq which killed more than 100 civilians, both under the first Trump administration; A attack on Afghan hospital during the Obama administration, during which at least 42 people were killed; and a drone attack in Afghanistan during the administration of George W. Bush which killed 10 civilians.
The preliminary conclusions of the Minab investigation revealed that outdated information likely led to strikeNBC reported, citing a US official and three sources familiar with the preliminary findings.
A geotagged video by NBC News also showed what experts said appeared to be a U.S. Tomahawk missile hitting a compound belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps next to the elementary school.
“We’ve known for some time that a Tomahawk missile hit this school; it was caught on camera,” another Democratic senator said, adding that if the administration closed the investigation into the strike, it would “try to protect itself from having to admit it to the public.”
Trump said at one point, without evidence, that Iran or “other countries” could be responsible.
“In my opinion, from what I saw, this was done by Iran,” he told reporters less than two weeks after the strike. But the results are expected to show the United States was responsible for the strike, based on initial findings.
Lawmakers have been pressuring the Pentagon for details about the strike for months, including in a March letter to Hegseth from 120 Democrats.
Among their questions was the role that AI might have played in target selection in Iran, a topic that could be addressed in the results of the Pentagon investigation.
“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?” asked the lawmakers in the March letter.
