A U.N. investigation has been launched into a deadly attack on a primary school in Iran that Iranian officials say occurred on the first day of U.S.-Israeli military action against the country, a member of the mission told reporters on Tuesday.
Iranian authorities in Geneva described the assault on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School as two missile strikes fired in rapid succession, reporting the deaths of 168 children, the majority of whom were girls.
Earlier reporting on March 5 indicated that U.S. military investigators believed it likely that U.S. forces were responsible for the strike, though those investigators had not reached a final determination and their work remained unfinished. The Pentagon has since elevated that probe.
Max du Plessis, a member of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, said at a Geneva press conference: "We’re at an early stage of that investigation," and added that the mission had received credible reports supporting the death toll provided by Iranian officials.
He emphasized the need for an independent inquiry given the scale of civilian loss. "It’s clear to us that whatever happens in respect of such an event, given the innocent lives that have been lost, there is a critical need for such an investigation to be done and for an independent outcome to follow," he said.
If an investigation were to confirm U.S. responsibility, the incident would rank among the most severe episodes of civilian fatalities in several decades of U.S. military strikes in the Middle East, according to observers cited in the reporting.
Context and procedural status
The U.N. mission has only recently begun its work on this case and has described its current phase as preliminary. At the same time, U.S. military investigators had earlier reported a likelihood of U.S. involvement but had not completed a final assessment.
The Pentagon has elevated the domestic probe, signaling a heightened level of scrutiny while both the U.N. inquiry and the U.S. military investigation proceed.
Given the early stage of the U.N. fact-finding mission, details remain limited and the outcomes of both investigative tracks have yet to be determined.