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The US committed its first major atrocity of Trump’s war on Iran during the first day of bombing.
On February 28, a missile directly hit Shajareh Tayyebeh school in southern Iran. The school building was destroyed; dozens of young girls between seven and 12 years old were killed. It is believed that around 168 people died altogether. The Guardian reported on horrific details from verified videos; in one, they say, “a very small child’s severed arm is pulled from the rubble. Colourful backpacks covered with blood and concrete dust sit among the ruins.”
The school appears to have been deliberately targeted, perhaps because the location was the site of a Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base 15 years ago. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted that “we, of course, never target civilian targets,” but large-scale bombing raids often hit and kill civilians, including children. This is one reason that it is immoral, as well as illegal, to launch a war of aggression.
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Initially, most US media outlets did not cover the mass slaughter of Iranian girls with much urgency. Neither The New York Times, The Washington Post, nor The Wall Street Journal put the story on the front page, and the Sunday news shows mostly ignored it as well.
Slowly, though, the scale of the horror began to break through; The Times, CNN, and US military investigators have all independently confirmed US strikes were almost certainly responsible for the destruction of the school. (As this newsletter was being finalized Sunday evening, The Times published a new analysis showing Tomahawk missiles landing beside the school, which represents further evidence of US guilt.) The UN has called for an investigation and US reporters have pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who (inevitably) has been evasive.
Even worse, Trump on Saturday tried to blame the Iranians for killing their own children, lying that “it was done by Iran.”
