Minab survivors testify Scahill examines the strike

Feb 28

Goodman and Jeremy Scahill present Drop Site's article and companion film about the February 28 bombing of Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab. Goodman reports at least 156 dead, including 120 children and 26 women teachers, and describes a recent UN fact-finding war-crime conclusion. Scahill reconstructs the first war day's evacuation, children returning indoors after initial strikes and repeated hits. He distinguishes Iranian officials' accounts and his investigation; the reported thirteen missile impacts and a deliberate triple-tap allegation are not independently adjudicated. The film carries preschool teacher Hossniyeh Salem's account of trapped and injured children and attempted rescue, teacher/father Yaghoub Yazdanpanah's account of losing Fatemeh, and Red Crescent responders Ehsan Mohseni and Majid Dadania describing recovery and burial work. Scahill also recalls the opening Tehran strikes killing Ali Khamenei and family members. Archival March clips show Trump blaming Iran while Hegseth says investigation continues; a July Trey Yingst interview shows Trump acknowledging a possible mistake, suggesting images could be AI-generated and doubting a conclusive report. Scahill discusses possible rushed targeting, outdated maps and AI while expressly leaving deliberate targeting versus error unresolved. He describes a school operating since 2014, an older IRGC facility, relocated units and recent imagery showing civilian features, and cites former Pentagon official Wes Bryant on targeting safeguards. He alleges the CENTCOM commander's active-missile-base testimony was false, says no US investigation has been made public, and argues that failing civilian checks would support war-crime liability even if technology or human error contributed. He calls for congressional accountability and concludes with survivors' trauma and guilt. The film's testimony, casualty categories, technical claims and legal interpretations retain their attribution; this report establishes no court judgment, public US finding or conclusive intent.

IRINN recalls the killing of pupils and teachers at Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab during the opening phase of the war. Its September 22 report cites the Iranian judiciary spokesman attributing the attack to the United States and invoking a UN document, alongside remembrance by families and students. On September 23 the anchor refers to 168 pupils and teachers killed and their absence as schools reopen. Pezeshkian displays victims' images at the UN and condemns the killing of innocent children; a reaction report and labeled photo montage return to Minab. These are the broadcaster's and officials' accounts and casualty figure, not a court finding or an independently reconciled total. ABC's September 23 report shows Pezeshkian holding a montage labeled Minab's school and describes girls killed on the first day of the war in a suspected American airstrike. It explicitly says the Pentagon is still investigating, adding a different degree of attribution to the Iranian accounts. ABC gives no new casualty total. At the American-thinkers gathering carried by IRINN on September 25, Pezeshkian says the school had 168 pupils and alleges two bombings half an hour apart on the war's first day. He questions their legal and human-rights justification. This adds his double-strike allegation without resolving the existing casualty and responsibility questions or replacing ABC's report that the Pentagon was investigating. In a September 28 UN statement aired by Democracy Now the next day, Nasser Assadi Nazari alleges that missiles striking Minab and Lamerd were launched from neighboring territory. He describes 168 children killed at Minab, whereas earlier Iranian coverage described 168 pupils and teachers. The differing category and the launch-origin claim remain attributed; the clip provides no independent reconciliation or technical proof. IRINN's September 30 closing feature quotes the IRGC letter's allegation that invading U.S. forces committed a war crime seven months earlier by massacring 168 Minab schoolchildren; participants say their hostility concerns vengeance for those children while distinguishing Americans from their government. This adds letter-based remembrance and culpability claims. Its schoolchildren category remains source-specific alongside earlier pupils-and-teachers wording, ABC's investigation qualification and the distinct double-strike and launch-origin allegations. IRINN's October 5 Sharif campus feature shows injured Minab pupils visiting with families and taking part in a symbolic graduation. Selected pupils describe burns and shrapnel injuries. This is direct survivor testimony and continuing remembrance, not a new casualty total, medical verification or independent finding of responsibility. In the earlier June 24 Oval Office exchange, Mark Stone says the school-attack report has been published and completed. Trump says he has not seen it, must await completion, doubts responsibility will ever be resolved and thinks the United States was not responsible. Hegseth says the investigation was taken seriously and its outcome will be divulged at an appropriate time. No findings are disclosed. This preserves the officials' qualified denial and the unresolved completion dispute alongside the later Iranian culpability claims and ABC's suspected-strike account; it does not settle responsibility. Democracy Now's October 2 interview reports at least 156 people killed, including 120 children and 26 women teachers, a different source-specific count/category from the earlier 168 formulations. Drop Site's film adds firsthand teacher, bereaved-parent and Red Crescent testimony, while Scahill reconstructs repeated strikes and discusses the former IRGC facility's separation from the school. He leaves deliberate targeting versus rushed/error/technology explanations unresolved, alleges inadequate civilian checks and says no US investigation has been made public. Its archival official statements, UN findings announcement and new investigation publication have separate occurrence dates and scoped links. These claims do not establish a court judgment or reconcile casualty totals.