One of the more egregious claims that President Trump made to reporters onboard Air Force One on March 7, was that Iran had bombed the girls’ school in Minab on the first day of the war. While experts have already weighed in saying that the evidence shows that the school was hit by a Tomahawk cruise missile, The Intercept’s Nick Turse found three current and former defense officials pushing back against Trump.
Even Trump’s own Pentagon chief, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, refused to back him up. U.S. Central Command appeared to suggest that Trump’s comments were “inappropriate,” Turse reports. “This is another instance of Trump lying and just talking out of his ass,” said a U.S. government official who reviewed satellite images of the Shajarah Tayyebeh school. “This clearly was not a failed rocket from the IRGC base.”
Turse adds that the claim, that the IRGC had struck the school, spread as part of a disinformation campaign about the attack, peddled by social media accounts that support restoring Iran’s monarchy. The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, said it was clear that Iran did not strike the school. Trump, however, endorsed the dubious claim when taking questions from the press.
