Minab School Strike in Iran: Outdated Data and AI ‘Kill Chain’ Overreliance Behind Deaths of 123 Children, Says Report

A Bloomberg investigation has found that a 'cascade of preventable failures' by the US military, including outdated targeting data, overreliance on artificial intelligence and thin human oversight, was behind the strike on Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in the southern Iranian city of Minab, according to more than two dozen current and former US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Two Tomahawk missiles hit the school compound on February 28, the day the US and Israel launched their joint war against Iran, killing more than 150 people, including at least 123 children. Some Pentagon personnel reportedly knew within hours that the failures were responsible.

In terms of child deaths, Minab is the deadliest American military targeting error of the 21st century. The Trump administration has not publicly taken responsibility for it.

How The School Landed On The Target List

The two-story school was built on land that was once part of a military compound, which the US military had classified for years as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facility. Officials told Bloomberg that the urgency of the assault compressed the time available for finalising targets, and the US reportedly struck more than 1,000 Iranian targets in the first 24 hours of the war.

Officials involved in the inquiry noted clear evidence that the site had been modified. Satellite images show walls and entrances separating the school from the military base were completed by 2017, and a 2018 image shows painted walls, a football pitch, assembly areas and play markings. Some US intelligence analysts flagged the changes in 2019, but logged them in a system not connected to the primary database used for targeting, which kept listing the site as an IRGC facility. A New York Times report in June said targeting officials had used satellite imagery that was seven years old and did not show the school. Iran-Israel Conflict Escalates: 40 Killed in Strike on Girls' School in Minab as US and Israel Launch Major Offensive.

Role Of Palantir's Maven Smart System

At US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversaw the attack, some personnel reportedly relied too heavily on the AI embedded in the Maven Smart System, developed by Palantir Technologies. The system uses more than 150 data inputs to inform commanders' decisions, from targeting to command and control. Officials said some personnel expected it to flag outdated information or inconsistencies in the intelligence, though it is unclear why they held that expectation. ‘Defence Shall Persist As Long As It Is Needed’: Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi at UN Slams US, Israel Over Minab Elementary Girls’ School Strike.

Palantir told Bloomberg it 'is not responsible for the underlying data nor identifying intelligence deficiencies' and that there was no evidence its software was at fault. Two people familiar with its Pentagon contracts said the administration remains primarily responsible for the quality of the data fed into Maven. Palantir has reportedly since modified the system to 're-review underlying intelligence to identify factors that would disqualify a target and flag inconsistencies and inaccuracies that human review may have missed.'

Human Checks Reduced

Officials said the process used to approve targets, reportedly called a 'kill chain', traditionally involved intelligence analysts, imagery specialists, targeteers, lawyers, commanders and weapons crews. Maven now dominates it, cutting work that once took hours to minutes.

At the same time, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismantled most of the Pentagon's civilian harm mitigation units, cutting staff by about 90 per cent to fewer than 20 personnel. At CENTCOM, the team was reduced from 10 to one. No civilian-harm specialist reviewed the Minab site before the strike. Such a review was not mandatory, officials said, but it could have reduced the risk to civilians.

Laurie Blank, a special counsel at the Pentagon's general counsel office from 2022 to 2024, told Bloomberg, 'Haste can lead to errors.' She said pre-planned targets are different from those identified in active combat, especially when operations are launched by choice.

UN Says Strike Amounted To War Crimes

A recent UN investigation found reasonable grounds to conclude that the Minab strike, along with another US attack in Iran that day, amounted to war crimes. It said the US had 'failed in its obligation to do everything feasible to verify' that the school was a military target, and that the failure 'went beyond negligence'.

Pentagon Probe Yet To Be Made Public

Officials familiar with the investigation said it has been effectively complete for several months but has not been released. CENTCOM head Admiral Brad Cooper, who ordered it, told Congress in May that he was committed to transparency, but it is unclear how much of the report will be made public.

On March 12, over 120 Democrats in the US House wrote to Hegseth asking about the role of AI, including Maven, in identifying the school as a target. The Pentagon declined to respond publicly, citing the ongoing investigation. President Donald Trump, who had earlier suggested Tehran was responsible, told Fox News on July 14, 'I don't think anybody's going to ever be able to say what happened there.' A senior administration official said, 'The United States does not target civilians.'

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 24, 2026 04:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).