Lawmakers demand Pentagon release findings from probe of Iran school strike

Democratic senators led by Kirsten Gillibrand called on Monday for President Donald Trump’s administration to disclose within the next week the findings from a U.S. military investigation into a Feb. 28 strike at a girls’ school in Iran.

Reuters first reported on March 5 that an initial, internal U.S. military investigation showed U.S. forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab on the opening day of the war with Iran.

The group of more than two dozen U.S. senators, including the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed, requested in a letter the U.S. military finalize its investigation, brief Congress and present a plan to ensure such a mistake does not happen again.

“There is no justification for withholding an unclassified accounting of what happened, what went wrong, and what the Department is doing to prevent recurrence,” their letter said.

Asked for comment, a Pentagon official told Reuters: “The investigation is ongoing. We do not have any updates to announce at this time.”

The strike killed more than 175 children and teachers, Iranian officials say. The lawmakers’ letter notes that would make it the U.S. military’s largest civilian casualty incident since 1991, when it mistakenly bombed a shelter in Iraq, killing more than 400 civilians.

Archived copies of the Iranian school’s official website show the school is adjacent ‌to a ⁠compound operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military force that reports to Iran’s supreme leader.

Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, has reported that U.S. officials responsible for creating targeting packages appeared to have used out-of-date intelligence.

U.S. Admiral Brad Cooper, head of ​Central Command, which is directing the war effort, testified in May that the investigation was “complex” given ‌that the school was located on an active Iranian cruise missile base.

Trump, however, has cast doubt on whether the U.S. military will ever know what happened given the amount of military activity at the start of the war.

“Somebody said it was our missile, maybe ​it wasn’t our missile but I have seen nothing to lead me to believe ‌it ⁠was.” Trump remarked on June 24, adding: “I don’t think it was us.”

Iranian officials have pointed to the strike on the school as a U.S. war crime. The U.S. has said it never intentionally targets civilians.

In the letter, the lawmakers ask Cooper and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to submit an unclassified version of the findings to Congress and the U.S. public. They also ask for a prevention and remediation plan “that identifies the specific corrective actions the Department will take to ensure this does not happen again.”

“The United States military has a legal and moral obligation to take all feasible precautions to prevent civilian harm,” the letter said.

“When a U.S. strike kills civilians, the Department owes Congress, the American people, and the victims’ families a clear accounting of what happened and a credible plan to prevent future failures.”

周一，以克尔斯滕·吉利布兰德为首的民主党参议员呼吁唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府在下周公布美国军方对2月28日伊朗一所女子学校遭袭事件的调查结果。

路透社3月5日率先报道，美国军方初步内部调查显示，美军很可能对伊朗战争首日发生在米纳布的致命袭击负有责任。

包括参议院军事委员会首席民主党议员杰克·里德在内的二十多位美国参议员在一封信中要求美国军方完成调查，向国会汇报情况，并提出一项计划，以确保此类错误不再发生。

“没有任何理由隐瞒有关事件经过、哪里出了问题以及该部门正在采取哪些措施防止再次发生的非机密说明。”他们的信中写道。

路透社就此事询问五角大楼官员，该官员表示：“调查仍在进行中。目前我们没有任何最新消息可以公布。”

伊朗官员称，此次空袭造成175多名儿童和教师丧生。议员们在信中指出，这将是自1991年以来美军造成平民伤亡最严重的事件。1991年，美军误炸伊拉克一处避难所，造成400多名平民死亡。

伊朗这所学校官方网站的存档副本显示，该学校毗邻伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队（向伊朗最高领袖汇报的军事力量）运营的营地。

路透社援引知情人士的话报道称，负责制定打击目标方案的美国官员似乎使用了过时的情报。

美国中央司令部司令布拉德·库珀海军上将（负责指挥战争）在 5 月份作证说，鉴于这所学校位于伊朗现役巡航导弹基地内，调查“十分复杂”。

然而，鉴于战争初期大量的军事活动，特朗普对美国军方是否能够知道发生了什么表示怀疑。

“有人说那是我们的导弹，也许不是，但我没看到任何证据表明那就是我们的导弹。”特朗普6月24日表示，并补充道：“我不认为是我们干的。”

伊朗官员指出，美国对伊朗学校的袭击是战争罪行。美国则表示，其从未故意以平民为目标。

在信中，议员们要求库珀和美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯向国会和美国公众提交一份非机密版本的调查结果。他们还要求制定一项预防和补救计划，“明确国防部将采取哪些具体纠正措施，以确保此类事件不再发生”。

信中写道：“美国军方有法律和道德义务采取一切可行的预防措施，防止对平民造成伤害。”

“当美国空袭造成平民伤亡时，国防部有义务向国会、美国人民和遇难者家属清楚地说明发生了什么，并制定一个可信的计划来防止未来再次发生类似事件。”