Iran reports that a deadly airstrike struck a girls’ school. Here’s what we know.

Mourners gathered in the Iranian city of Minab earlier this week for a funeral for the victims of what Iranian officials say was a deadly airstrike on a school on Saturday, which they blame Israel and the United States for.

Neither the US nor Israel has said it was behind the attack. But a person familiar with the ongoing investigation says US investigators believe the US may be responsible, because the US was operating in the area while Israel was not, although no final conclusions have been reached.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have said the Pentagon is investigating.

Iranian officials said the explosion occurred in Minab in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province. The first day of the war was Saturday, and it marked the largest loss of civilian life so far in the conflict. At least 175 people, primarily schoolgirls aged 7 to 12, lost their lives, according to Iranian health officials and state media.

Journalists from international news organisations do not have unfettered access to the location to independently confirm the toll or the circumstances. Iranian authorities must grant explicit approval to foreign media organisations wishing to report out of Tehran.

Here’s what we know so far:

Video footage and photos

Footage filmed at a parking lot showed black smoke billowing from a damaged building decorated with graffiti depicting drawings of crayons, children and an apple.

CBS News has geolocated the clip to a building in Mina b. Iranian media have identified the building as Shazareh Tayyebeh Primary School. Saturday is a regular school day in Iran.

CBS News also confirmed that the building was located close to two sites controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Sayyid al-Shohada Barracks.

Agence France-Presse reports that the IRGC Navy Medical Command supervises the Shahid Abslan Clinic, located 780 feet from the site.

AFP could not independently verify the date the footage from the parking lot was filmed.

Minab is strategically located near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, especially for oil and gas.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the school before and after the attack on February 28. Satellite imagery reveals the damage to two other buildings near the school.

what does iran say

Iranian state television and a local official identified the site as the Shajareh Tayebeh girls’ primary school in Mina b.

Iran has said more than 170 people were killed in what President Massoud Pezeshkian described as US-Israeli attacks on the school.

Pezeshkian said on social media that “attacks on schools target the future of the country” and that a hospital was also attacked.

“Targeting patients and children is a flagrant violation of humanitarian principles,” he said. “The world must condemn this. I stand with our grieving nation. Iran will not remain silent or bow to these crimes.”

Iran held the last rites of at least 165 people, including students, killed in the alleged attack on Tuesday, according to state media.

Iran’s Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Karmanpour claimed in a post on X that dozens of those killed at the school were “martyred young children”.

State television showed images of a large crowd of mourners in Minab crying over bodies wrapped in white shrouds. Other images released by state media on Tuesday showed individuals preparing coffins draped in the Iranian flag – some with pictures of children.

A third clip shared by state media showed a large crowd gathering around identical coffins, with the caption in Farsi: “Prayer service for the children of Minab who perished.”

Another aerial image shows excavators digging at least 100 graves at an unidentified mass burial site.

AFP cannot access the location to independently verify the date of the images’ capture or the circumstances surrounding the events.

Pentagon investigation

When BBC News asked about the alleged incident at Wednesday’s news briefing, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is investigating.

“All I can say is that we are investigating and we certainly never targeted civilian targets,” Hegseth said, without elaborating.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that the United States would not intentionally target any school.

He told reporters, “The United States would not deliberately target a school. Our objective is the missiles, both the ability to build them and the ability to launch them.”

White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement Friday, “This investigation is ongoing. There are no findings at this time, and it is irresponsible and wrong for anyone to claim otherwise. As we have said, unlike the terrorist Iranian regime, the United States does not target civilians.”

But a person familiar with the ongoing investigation says investigators believe the US may be responsible because it is operating in the region while Israel is not. No final conclusion has been reached, the source said.

Israel not aware of “any relationship”

Two sources familiar with the situation told CBS News that Israel was not working in the school field. This also included an Israeli source, who said Israel was not behind the attack and that the Israeli Air Force was not operating near the school.

Asked about the incident, Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani told CBS News that the IDF “found no connection to our operations”.

When asked by CBS News’ Matt Gutman whether he was saying claims of the school attack were Iranian misinformation, Shoshani said he was suggesting “caution when using information provided by a regime that commits genocide against its people.”

Shoshani also told reporters, “At the moment there is no information about any Israeli or American attack there. … We are working with utmost precision.”

“Ensure Accountability”

The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, is calling for a swift, impartial, and thorough investigation into the attack.

Raveena Shamdasani, spokesperson of the United Nations Human Rights Office, said, “The responsibility to investigate is on the forces who carried out the attack.”

Norway-based rights group Hangau said it was seeking information about the identities of the victims. In a statement, the organisation said that at the time of the incident, Shajare Tayyebeh School was conducting its morning session and reportedly around 170 students were present.

The rights group said the target of the attack was reportedly near IRGC facilities – a claim that news outlets have not been able to independently verify.

“The establishment and expansion of military facilities near schools and public places increases the threat to civilians,” Hengaw said. Said.