Iran has not claimed responsibility for deadly strike on girls’ school, despite social media claims

More than 100 people, including children, were killed in a missile strike on a girls’ school in southern Iran, the Iranian government reported. The Feb. 28 strike in Minab happened the day the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran, accusing it of building nuclear weapons that threaten the U.S. and its allies.

Some social media users said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s armed forces, took responsibility for the attacks.

"The regime in Iran has now confessed that the IRGC mistakenly bombed an Iranian school yesterday, killing many children," a March 1 X post said. It had been viewed 5.6 million times by the afternoon of March 2. 

Another X post with 2.3 million views as of March 2 said, "Iran admits — It was an IRGC missile that killed 148 school-girls… The regime in Iran has now officially confirmed that the IRGC mistakenly bombed an Iranian school yesterday, killing many children."

The posts include screenshots of a Telegram account called Radio Gilan.

"An IRGC aerospace missile hit a school in Minab County, Hormozgan Province," a translation of the Feb. 28 Telegram post said. "The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that this was an inadvertent mistake and that serious action will be taken against those responsible for this action."

Neither the U.S. nor Israel have taken responsibility for the strike, and there is no evidence that Iran’s government has either. Iran’s government described the attack as perpetrated by U.S.-Israeli strikes.

Iran’s government didn’t claim the attack

Immediately after the strike and in the days since, Iran’s government and state-run media blamed the U.S. and Israel. 

"The US & Israel launched an egregious, unwarranted act of aggression against Iran by indiscriminately targeting Iranian cities," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a Feb. 28 X post. "In just one single case, they targeted a primary school in #Minab, Hormozgan Province, killing and maiming tens of innocent young girls. This is a blatant crime."

In a March 2 post, Baghaei again described the school strike as caused by "American and Israeli missiles."

Hossein Kermanpour, an Iran health ministry spokesperson, also said in a Feb. 28 X post that there had been "an enemy's missile strike on a girls' elementary school."

PolitiFact found no official statements, state media reports or news stories that said Iran’s government took responsibility for the attack.

U.S. Central Command did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment, but provided a statement to The New York Times: "We are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them."

We rate claims that the Iranian regime confessed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bombed an Iranian school False.