Rabia Iclal Turan
19 May 2026•Update: 19 May 2026
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee pressed the CENTCOM chief on Tuesday for answers about a strike that killed more than 150 girls at an Iranian school on Feb. 28.
Rep. Adam Smith, the committee’s ranking member, urged Adm. Brad Cooper to acknowledge US responsibility for the strike on the school, which Iranian officials say killed 175 people, including more than 150 schoolgirls.
“It’s really pretty clear what happened there,” Smith said, noting that in previous incidents the US military has moved quickly to acknowledge mistakes even while investigations were still ongoing.
“Can you at this moment acknowledge that that mistake was made, and that we were responsible for it? It’s something we didn’t want to do, and don’t want to repeat?” Smith asked.
Cooper declined to take responsibility, saying only: “The United States does not deliberately target civilians.”
“Nor are the Iranian people our enemy. The IRGC is the adversary in this case,” he added.
“Admiral, I asked you a very specific question, and I’m curious what the answer is,” Smith said.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Cooper replied.
Cooper said the school is located near an active IRGC cruise missile base, making the incident “more complex than the average strike,” and pledged transparency once the investigation concludes.
Smith responded: “I do not trust that answer. What we’ve seen out of this Secretary of Defense (Pete Hegseth) and his callous disregard for any sort of rules of engagement or protecting civilian life may make us suspicious.”
He added that the administration’s refusal to acknowledge potential errors is “precisely the reason we are in the hole that we’re in with no way out.”
The Feb. 28 strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab killed approximately 175 people, according to Iranian officials.
Several US media outlets have reported, citing preliminary US assessments, that the school may have been struck by an American Tomahawk missile.
