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Iran blasts CENTCOM’s ‘shameless distortion’ on Minab school massacre

Press TV – May 20, 2026

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has rejected as totally “baseless” the US Central Command (CENTCOM)’s narrative regarding the missile strike on Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh school, saying the US is attempting to shun accountability for the massacre of more than 170 students and teachers.

In a post on his X account early Wednesday, Esmaeil Baghaei said that the “claim by US Central Command (CENTCOM) that the targeted #Shajareh_Tayyebeh Elementary School in #Minab was located within a ‘missile launch facility’ is a baseless fabrication and an appalling lie.”

On the very first day of the unprovoked war of aggression by a US-Israeli military coalition on February 28, US Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School in Minab, in southern Iran, killing at least 175 people, most of them schoolgirls.

Baghaei’s remarks came after Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, claimed during a House committee hearing that the school was located near an active Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) cruise missile base.

“This shameless distortion is a clear attempt to obscure the severe reality of the 28 February missile attacks, which resulted in the tragic slaughtering of over 170 school children and their teachers,” Baghaei stressed.

“Targetting an active educational institution during school hours constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and is a clear war crime. The civilian nature of the site cannot be obscured by technical misrepresentations.

“The military commanders and United States authorities responsible for ordering and executing this catastrophic assault must be held fully accountable under international law,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman emphasized.

Multiple independent investigations, including visual analyses by CBC News and satellite imagery from Planet Labs, revealed a pattern of precision-guided munitions striking the school.

Former Pentagon targeting expert Wes Bryant concluded the attack was “absolutely deliberately targeted.” Leaked preliminary US military findings cited “outdated targeting data” as a factor.

Despite this, President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that “that was done by Iran, because they’re very inaccurate with their munitions.” Days later, when shown video of a US Tomahawk missile striking the site, Trump said “I haven’t seen it” and falsely asserted Iran possesses Tomahawks.

US war secretary Pete Hegseth told the BBC: “The only side that targets civilians is Iran.”

Five former US officials have criticized the Pentagon’s unprecedented lack of transparency, with Rep. Adam Smith calling Pentagon responses “pathetic and completely inadequate.”

Republican Senator John Kennedy broke with the administration, saying: “I think we made a mistake. It was a terrible, terrible mistake.” Former officials attribute the deflection to a “reluctance” to contradict Trump after he blamed Iran, a claim described as “really far-fetched and very clearly not true.”

The administration’s efforts to recast a school with children’s murals and a sports field as a military target continue as the investigation nears three months with no admission of responsibility.

May 20, 2026 - Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , ,

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