Pentagon Probe Blames AI and Staff Cuts for Deadly US Strike on Iranian School

According to a Pentagon investigation reported by Bloomberg, flawed intelligence, rushed targeting procedures, and staff cuts contributed to the February 28 missile strike that killed 123 children at an Iranian elementary school. Two Tomahawk missiles struck the Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab during the opening wave of United States and Israeli military attacks.

The strike occurred as US Central Command personnel relied on Palantir’s Maven Smart System to build target lists in minutes, utilizing outdated satellite imagery that depicted the school as part of an adjacent naval base. While some personnel expected the software to flag stale data, a Palantir spokesperson stated that the company was not responsible for underlying data or intelligence deficiencies and that its software was not at fault. Bloomberg reported that the AI giant has since updated Maven to re-review underlying data and flag inconsistencies that human review might miss.

Investigation Findings and Staff Reductions

Investigators found that civilian harm mitigation units had been severely reduced under orders from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who cut their staff by roughly 90 percent to fewer than 20 people. According to Bloomberg, a civilian harm mitigation team at CENTCOM dropped from ten personnel to one, leaving no officials to review the Minab site prior to the strike.

Amnesty International reported that guided weapons directly struck the school building alongside 12 other structures in an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, stated that the operation failed to take feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm and called the incident a serious breach of international humanitarian law.

International and Diplomatic Reactions

United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk stated that the bombing evoked a visceral horror. A UN fact-finding mission concluded on a Thursday that there were reasonable grounds to believe the attack constituted a war crime.

The US State Department rejected the UN findings, accusing the organization of pushing anti-American rhetoric and anti-Semitism while appeasing repressive regimes. The US government has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the strike, with President Donald Trump suggesting the missile could have been Iranian, though US media investigations indicate the munitions were American.

Should the assaulting forces have failed to recognize the structure as an educational facility and yet carried on with the strike, such actions would demonstrate severe operational negligence, signal a disgraceful intelligence failure by the American military, and constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law.

Amnesty International