By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it has elevated the investigation into a devastating February 28 strike on an Iranian girls' school after media reports revealed the probe shows U.S. forces were likely responsible.
Iran has said the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School killed 168 children. If U.S. fault is confirmed, it would rank among the worst incidents of civilian deaths in decades of U.S. military strikes in the Middle East.
Reuters first reported the investigation's initial findings on March 5.
Citing the seriousness of the matter, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to comment on the preliminary finding of the investigation, saying: "We're not going to let reporting lead us or force our hand into indicating what happened."
He said a higher-level investigation would be led by an unnamed U.S. general officer from outside of U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing operations against Iran. Such a move is typically taken by the U.S. military to ensure greater independence for investigators.
"The command investigation will take as long as necessary to address all the matters surrounding this incident," Hegseth told a press conference at the Pentagon.
Iran's new supreme leader blamed the country's enemies for the school strike in his first message to the country on Thursday, without explicitly saying the U.S. was responsible.
PROBE CAN BE USED FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION
Three U.S. officials told Reuters the command investigation Hegseth referred to is an administrative probe known as a 15-6, which can become the basis for disciplinary action if warranted. It usually includes sworn statements or interviews with those involved. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal military processes.
The head of U.S. Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, ordered the 15-6 probe last week after the initial review was completed. The outside officer was appointed on Thursday, one official said.
The development underscores the serious concern about how to respond to possible U.S. responsibility for the tragedy and the need to comprehensively examine the incident.
"It signals a recognition that something went wrong and to try to understand what happened and why," said Annie Shiel, U.S. advocacy director with the Center for Civilians in Conflict.
TRUMP INITIALLY BLAMED IRAN
It remains unclear how U.S. forces could have struck the school. Preliminary findings suggest U.S. forces may have relied upon outdated targeting data that apparently did not distinguish between the school and the adjoining Iranian military base in Minab, a town in southern Iran.
Video and other evidence suggest the school was hit by a Tomahawk cruise missile, a powerful, precision-guided munition that few nations other than the U.S. possess.
The investigation comes despite public comments by President Donald Trump initially doubting the possibility of U.S. involvement that stoked concern among some defense officials about whether he would be willing to accept blame.
The president initially said, without offering evidence, that Iran may have attacked the school and suggested Tehran may have Tomahawk missiles, which military experts call extremely unlikely.
Still, Trump on Monday said publicly he would "certainly" accept the results of the U.S. investigation: "Whatever the report shows, I'm willing to live with that report."
A second U.S. official pointed to those remarks as evidence that Trump was moving toward accepting the preliminary investigation results. Further, the official said public discussion of the investigation had made it politically difficult for Trump to reject the findings once they are finalized.
The official noted that a 15-6 investigation reflected the seriousness of the Trump administration's approach to the investigation because it would comprehensively examine what went wrong and how to correct those issues.
SCHOOL'S ONLINE PRESENCE
A Reuters visual investigation published on Thursday showed the Iranian school had a years-long, public online presence, including dozens of photos of the children and their activities.
The Shajareh Tayyebeh School was one of 59 schools within the Persian Gulf Martyrs' Cultural Educational Institute, a network affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military force that reports to Iran's supreme leader, according to archived copies of the network’s website.
The school’s website includes photos of students gathered in the yard, which matched verified videos outside the building after the strike.
Satellite imagery from mid-2015 shows the building was walled off from the Iranian military base and appears to have operated as a school since at least 2018, when the painted murals are first visible on its outer walls.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Don Durfee, Rod Nickel)
