US claims bombed Iranian girls’ school was inside active missile site

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), told Congress on Tuesday that the US military’s investigation into the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran was “complex” because the school was located inside an active Iranian cruise missile launch site. 

In March, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the forces behind the deadly attack on the girls’ school in Iran to investigate the incident and provide information about it, without saying who it believed was responsible. 

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, told a press conference in Geneva: “The High Commissioner (Volker Turk) calls for a prompt, impartial ​and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the ⁠attack. The onus is on the forces that carried out ​the attack to investigate it,”       

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“This is absolutely horrific,” Shamdasani said, adding that images circulating on social media captured “the essence of the ​destruction, despair and senselessness and cruelty of this conflict,” according to Reuters.

She said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk had urged all parties to show restraint and return to negotiations.

The school, located in southern Iran, was hit on 28th February 2026, the first day of US and Israeli attacks on the country. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US forces “would not deliberately target a school.”

READ: US ‘investigates’ deadly strike on Iran girls’ school; Israel denies involvement