Red and Green image of Iran

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Right-wing media blamed Iran for bombing of Minab elementary school, but reporting suggests it was a US strike

Reporting indicates that a US Tomahawk missile likely hit the school, yet right-wing media blamed the attack on Iran and downplayed the killing of children because “things happen in war”

Written by Torri Lonergan, Ben Van Bloem & Isabella Sherk

Published

Right-wing media blamed Iran for the likely U.S. bombing of an elementary school during initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. As evidence mounted that the U.S. was likely at fault, right-wing media called it “disinformation from the enemy.” The strike killed about 175 civilians, largely young children.

Multiple mainstream news organizations have now verified a video that appears to show a U.S. Tomahawk missile hitting a building near the school as part of an attack on an Iranian naval facility next door. Additionally, Defense Department investigators have reportedly determined that the U.S. was likely responsible for the strike. However, right-wing media figures claimed to have “photographic evidence” that Iran was behind the bombing, downplayed the killing of school children, and cast doubt on reporting about the strike, calling the entire story “a lie that has been completely retracted.” 

  • Reporting and video suggest that the US is likely responsible for the bombing of an Iranian elementary school

    • Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in southern Iran was struck by a missile on February 28, killing about 175 people. Neither the U.S. nor Israel initially admitted responsibility for the attack that killed so many civilians, including many children. [NPR, 3/8/26; BBC, 3/9/26] 
    • Evidence suggests that the missile was launched by the United States. The New York Times linked the strike on the school to a simultaneous U.S. military attack on a neighboring Iranian naval base and debunked the claim that the school was hit by a “misfired Iranian missile.” The New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post also verified a video that confirmed it was a Tomahawk missile that hit the school. All three outlets reported that the U.S. is the only actor in the war that is known to possess Tomahawks. [The New York Times, 3/5/26, 3/8/26; NPR, 3/8/26; The Washington Post, 3/8/26] 
    • Even Fox News reported that the school was likely hit with U.S. munitions. Correspondent Jennifer Griffin said, “Satellite imagery and verified video shows the girls elementary school hit in Minab, Iran, on Saturday was likely hit by U.S. precision munitions.” Even Fox host Laura Ingraham mentioned the possibility that “some horrific U.S. or Israeli mistake” caused the strike and said that if the reports are true, then “we will need to own up to it, full transparency.” [Fox News, America Reports, 3/6/26; Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/4/26]
    • Both a U.S. official and open-source investigative journalism collective Bellingcat said the strike was “likely American.” A Bellingcat researcher identified the munition as a Tomahawk cruise missile made by American weapons manufacturer Raytheon. Reuters reported that “U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children.” The New York Times reported that “an ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible” for the strike, noting that it was “the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S. military,” which “created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data” that “had not been double checked.” [Bellingcat, 3/8/26; The Associated Press, 3/9/26; Reuters, 3/5/26; The New York Times, 3/11/26]
    • Despite this reporting, President Donald Trump denied U.S. responsibility for the strike and blamed Iran. “In my opinion and based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump told The New York Times. “They’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions.” Fox’s Jennifer Griffin accused Trump of trying to “muddy the waters,” saying, “It seems highly unlikely it would be anyone's Tomahawk other than a U.S. Tomahawk that hit that school, and I think the president knows that.” [The New York Times, 3/5/26, 3/8/26; Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 3/9/26]

  • Many right-wing media figures blamed Iran for the school bombing

    • Right-wing podcaster Laura Loomer dismissed U.S. and Israeli responsibility for the bombing as “Islamic propaganda” and claimed to have “photographic evidence” that the missile that hit the school was “fired by the Iranians.” Loomer argued, “The school that was struck in Iran was struck by an Iranian missile that misfired because it was fired by the Iranians, and then they blamed Israel and they blamed the United States. And I posted photographic evidence of this the other day, and you can clearly see the missile shooting up and then shooting back down in Iran. So no, the United States and Israel did not just murder 175 Iranian school girls. The Iranians murdered 175 Iranian school girls.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 3/3/26]
    • Fox News contributor Brett Velicovich implied that Iranian “tyrants” were “bombing girls schools in the midst of their own chaos.” Velicovich said, “This is not a country defending itself anymore, it’s a regime exporting chaos in every direction. It’s a regime full of psychopaths that should not exist in modern society. And while our military conducts precision strikes on the tyrants in Iran, they are busy bombing girls schools in the midst of their own chaos and killing more innocents.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 3/5/26]
    • Charlie Kirk Show producer Blake Neff raised the possibility that “Iran might have launched one of their missiles and it didn’t go well.” Former Tucker Carlson writer Neff said of the strike, “I highly doubt our government would intentionally strike an elementary school. So there's a possibility it didn't happen at all. Accidental strike. Iran might have launched one of their missiles and it didn't go well and it landed inside their own country.” [Rumble, The Charlie Kirk Show, 2/28/26; The New York Times, 9/16/20]
    • Podcast host Stephen Crowder amplified an “unverified” Telegram post claiming “Iran knew they struck their own school by accident, used it — or on purpose — used it for propaganda.” Crowder said that he “would be willing to bet if it did happen that it obviously wasn't targeted” and suggested that it could have been an Iranian missile that struck the school. [Rumble, Louder with Crowder, 3/3/26]
    • PBD Podcast host Patrick Bet-David said reports about the school bombing were “disinformation,” and panelist Adam Sosnick claimed it had been tracked back to a “fallen military missile from Iran.” Bet-David responded, “Let me tell you, that’s the disinformation camp.” Later in the episode, Sosnick reiterated that it “was the IRGC,” or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and said that people complaining about the school attack were being hypocritical for ignoring violence by the Iranian government during recent protests: “You didn’t care that 30, 40, 50,000 Iranians were killed?" [YouTube, PBD Podcast, 3/2/26, 3/2/26]

  • Right-wing media downplayed the school bombing or denied US involvement

    • Fox host Jimmy Failla claimed that Democrats planted “a lie that has been completely retracted of these allied forces wiping out a girls school.” He blamed Democrats for planting the story in the media, saying, “If you see the entirety of the world celebrating Donald Trump, your first thought as a Democrat is oh shit. So they get out there and they plant a story.” Failla continued by claiming that Democrats want people to think, “I don't want to live in an America where Trump just blows up girls schools.” [Fox News Radio, Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla, 3/3/26]
    • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said he thought there was a “major chance” that reports of the U.S. striking a school were “disinformation from the enemy.” Kelly said, “This is an authoritarian move. They do it all the time, right? Once the bullets start flying, they claim war crime, war crime.” The host later suggested the building may not have even been a school, admitting that “it’s possible, but none of the reports mention that it was located right next to the Iranian Islamic Republican Guard headquarters for that area.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 3/2/26]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters: “If someone made a mistake when they hit a school, that's bad, but that's war.” He accused co-host Jessica Tarlov of “lying about the war” and said Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “murdered 35,000 people” as a defense when Tarlov brought up the school bombing. [Fox News, The Five, 3/6/26]
    • War Room host Steve Bannon downplayed the deadly school bombing, saying, “Those things happen in war.” He insisted, “They don't make mistakes. You may have something go offline, there's this issue about this striking the girls school that’s on a military base. Yes, those things happen in war. But the process is bulletproof.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 3/9/26]
    • Streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as Asmongold, dismissed concerns about the bombing of the school as “emotional manipulation” and “Karen ideology” while praising a video of Secretary of State Marco Rubio talking about the conflict. [YouTube, Asmongold TV, 3/2/26]
    • The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro criticized “people putting extraordinary focus on the Iranian school” who didn’t talk about “protesters mowed down by the Iranian regime.” Shapiro said, “Every life lost is a tragedy. I've noticed that many of the people, nay, virtually all of the people who are placing extraordinary focus on the Iranian school that was horrifically struck today didn't give two bleeps about the 32,000 protesters mowed down by the Iranian regime. So they're perfectly happy to let 88 million people live under the tyranny of the ayatollahs, mowing down tens of thousands of people at a time. That, they have no problem with. No protest. Nothing. But, if in taking out the ayatollahs, a mistake is made and an Iranian school gets hit, I guess it's all game over, we have to stop. That’s nonsense.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 2/28/26]