Leavitt Suggests Reports on Iranian School Girls Killed Are “Propaganda” | Truthout

*Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with * a donation.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the idea that the U.S. was responsible for a strike on Saturday that struck a school in Minab, Iran, describing reports that the U.S. would target civilians in combat as “propaganda.”

When asked whether the U.S. carried out the strike, Leavitt said: “Not that we know of.” She echoed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s assertion on Wednesday that the Pentagon is “investigating” the attack, while not confirming or denying whether it was carried out by the U.S.

“The United States of America does not target civilians, unlike the rogue Iranian regime that targets civilians, that kills children … and uses propaganda quite effectively,” said Leavitt. “And unfortunately, many people in this room have fallen for that propaganda.”

Iranian state media and health officials have reported that at least 175 people were killed in the strike, including 160 schoolchildren, who were the first reported casualties of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran that commenced on February 28. Many of those killed were aged between 8 and 10 years old. A two-month-old baby was also reportedly killed in the strike.

Footage of the aftermath of the strike and the destroyed school building have been verified by investigators and news outlets, as was a picture distributed by Iranian media of a plot of graves being dug out for the victims of the strike.

It is unclear if the U.S. military carried out the strike. The U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Saturday, with Iranian forces swiftly retaliating against Israel and U.S. military bases in the region. NPR reported, citing experts, that the location of the strikes in southeastern Iran and the types of munitions used makes it more likely that they were U.S. strikes, not Israeli ones.

The outlet also reported that satellite imagery suggests the U.S. may have hit the school when trying to strike a nearby military complex.

Investigators have also pushed back on an emerging narrative online that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was responsible for the attack, with origins in online groups with ties to pro-monarchists aligned with Reza Pahlavi. These claims have been debunked as disinformation.

Middle East Eye has reported that witnesses described the attack as a “double-tap” strike, which aims to kill those who come to the rescue.

Leavitt insisted that the U.S. wouldn’t target civilian infrastructure — though none of the reporters suggested that the U.S. deliberately targeted the school — saying: “I would caution you from pointing the finger at the United States of America when it comes to targeting civilians because that’s not something that these armed forces do.”

The Trump administration has killed at least 150 civilians in its boat strike campaign against civilian alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. President Donald Trump’s first actions in his second term was to try to eliminate an office within the Pentagon that is responsible for limiting civilian deaths.

Unintentionally targeting a school can still qualify as a war crime, as international law requires that militaries do everything in their power to avoid civilian casualties.

The U.S. and Israel’s carpet bombing of Iran, meanwhile, has damaged numerous facilities that receive special protection under international law, such as hospitals. According to Iranian human rights group HRANA, at least 1,097 civilians in Iran have been killed since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war, including 181 children under the age of 10.

The U.S. has a long history of targeting civilians, including carpetbombing Vietnam; dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and firebombing Japanese cities, during World War II; and the direct and indirect killings in its post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, and much more.

Israel, with full backing of the U.S. and often using U.S. bombs, has deliberately targeted schools, universities, and countless civilian structures in its genocide in Gaza. Reports say that Israel has destroyed or damaged over 90 percent of schools and universities in Gaza amid the genocide.

Media that fights fascism

Truthout is funded almost entirely by readers — that’s why we can speak truth to power and cut against the mainstream narrative. But independent journalists at Truthout face mounting political repression under Trump.

We rely on your support to survive McCarthyist censorship. Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation.