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Pentagon Delays Release of Minab School Strike Report Amid Election Year
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Pentagon Withholds Minab School Strike Report
The Department of Defense is planning to keep the internal assessment of the Minab strike—an attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in southern Iran that killed more than 150 people, including roughly 120 children—until after the upcoming midterm elections. According to Bloomberg, Pentagon investigators concluded that the strike was carried out with a Tomahawk missile because of “outdated” targeting information, citing flawed intelligence, outdated imagery, and an overreliance on artificial-intelligence tools. The report is believed to have been completed for months, with preliminary findings released in early March, but senior officials have indicated the full document will not be made public until after the elections at the earliest.
Background to the Minab Attack
The strike occurred on the first day of President Donald Trump’s “illegal and deeply unpopular war” against Iran, a conflict that began with the U.S. bombing of Iranian facilities in retaliation for a 2019 attack on a Saudi oil tanker. In 2017, Trump authorized the deployment of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal, against targets in Afghanistan. The Minab incident is described by analysts as one of the U.S. military’s worst civilian atrocities in decades, and it follows other alleged attacks on Iranian civilian sites, including a sports hall, a home on Qeshm Island, and a wedding party in Kuhestak.
Official Responses
President Trump, when questioned in June, dismissed the tragedy with the remark, “Mistakes are made. War is nasty.” The Pentagon has not issued a formal public statement about the timing of the report’s release, but internal sources indicate a strategic decision to avoid drawing voter attention to the civilian casualties before the midterms.
Criticism and Opposition
Costello also linked the Minab strike to subsequent alleged war crimes, including bombings that killed families and children. Senior fellow Sina Toossi of the Center for International Policy warned that any further U.S. strikes—such as the contemplated use of a MOAB against Iranian energy infrastructure—could trigger a major escalatory spiral, threatening regional energy supplies and global markets.
Verbatim Quotes
- “Mistakes are made. War is nasty.” — Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC)
- “As the administration has dodged accountability on Minab and [a deadly strike on a sports hall hours later], it has engaged in further attacks that may be war crimes, including the bombing of a civilian home on Qeshm Island that killed a family and the bombing of a wedding party in Kuhestak that killed five, including two children,” — Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC)
- “This only reinforces the fundamental problem: Trump has no viable military solution to the Iran conflict,” — Afghanistan. Sina Toossi
- “Is he looking for one spectacular strike to project strength and declare victory? Or is he prepared to plunge the US into an even deeper, potentially endless war that could devastate the rest of his presidency, legacy, and the economy?” — Ryan Costello, policy director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC)