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Satellite imagery shows strike that destroyed Iranian school was more extensive than first reported

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− Geoff Brumfiel Loading...
+ Special Series Middle East conflict Conflict in the Middle East has been escalating. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them.
− The bombing of an Iranian elementary school that killed 165 people included more targets near the school than has been initially reported, a review of commercial satellite imagery by NPR has found.
+ By Geoff Brumfiel , Alyson Hurt Loading...
+ The bombing of an Iranian elementary school that killed some 165 people, many of them schoolgirls, included more targets near the school than has been initially reported, a review of commercial satellite imagery by NPR has found.
The images suggest that the school was hit on Saturday as part of a precision airstrike on a neighboring Iranian military complex — and that it may have been struck as a result of outdated targeting information. The new images come from the company Planet and are of the city of Minab, located in southeastern Iran. They show that a health clinic and other buildings near the school were also struck.
− The images are low-resolution, but three independent experts confirmed NPR's analysis of the additional strike points.
+ Three independent experts confirmed NPR's analysis of the additional strike points.
− Despite the fuzzy, three-meter-per-pixel satellite imagery, the strike points "look like pretty clean detonation centroids," said Corey Scher, a postdoctoral researcher at the Conflict Ecology Laboratory at Oregon State University.
+ Middle East conflict President Trump offers new rationale for U.S. attack on Iran The strike points "look like pretty clean detonation centroids," said Corey Scher, a postdoctoral researcher at the Conflict Ecology Laboratory at Oregon State University.
"These certainly appear like detonation sites," agreed Scher's colleague, Oregon State associate professor Jamon Van Den Hoek. Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at Middlebury College who specializes in satellite imagery, said the imagery was consistent with a precision airstrike. The images show "very precise targeting" Lewis told NPR.
− "Almost all the buildings [in the compound] are hit." Iranian state media said more than 165 people died in the bombing, which struck a girls' school.
+ "Almost all the buildings [in the compound] are hit." A satellite image of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp compound taken on March 4, five days after an airstrike destroyed a school on the edge of the compound.
− The school was located within less than 100 yards of the perimeter of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval base.
+ The image reveals that half-a-dozen other buildings in addition to the school were struck.
+ Planet Labs PBC hide caption Iranian state media said 165 people died in the bombing, which struck a girls' school. The school was located within less than 100 yards of the perimeter of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval base, according to satellite images and publicly available information.
The clinic was also located within the base perimeter, although both facilities had been walled off from the base. Israel has denied involvement. "We are not aware at the moment of any IDF operation in that area," Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Nadav Shoshani told NPR on Monday.
− "I don't know who's responsible for the bombing." At a press conference Wednesday morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the U.S.
+ "I don't know who's responsible for the bombing." Middle East conflict The U.S.
+ sinks Iran's ships and slams its missile launchers as the war enters Day 5 At a press conference Wednesday morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the U.S.
was looking into what happened at the school. ""All I know, all I can say, is that we're investigating that," Hegseth said.
− "We, of course, never target civilian targets." Given Minab's location in the southwestern part of the country, Lewis believes it's more likely the U.S.
+ "We, of course, never target civilian targets." Given Minab's location in the southeastern part of the country, Lewis believes it's more likely the U.S.
would have conducted the strike than Israel.
− "As one gets further south and west in Iran, a strike is much more likely to be a U.S.
+ As one gets further south and east in Iran, "a strike is much more likely to be a U.S.
strike than an Israeli strike because of the type of munitions and the geographic location," he said. Esmail Baghaei, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, called the strike "deliberate," and said that the U.S. and Israel bombed the school in part to tie up Iranian forces in the region with rescue efforts. "To call the attack on the girl's school merely a 'war crime' does not capture the sheer evil and depravity of such a crime," he said. But Lewis said it's more likely that the strike was the result of an error.
− Both the school and the clinic appear to be located either in or adjacent to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps base, according to satellite images and publicly available information.
Satellite images show that the school was separated from the base by a wall between 2013 and 2016. The clinic was walled off between 2022 and 2023.
− Lewis believes its possible American military planners had not updated their target sets.
+ Lewis believes it's possible American military planners had not updated their target sets.
"There are thousands of targets across Iran, and so there will be teams in the United States and Israel that are responsible for tracking those targets and updating them," he said. "It's possible that the target didn't get updated." The Pentagon did not immediately respond to NPR's request for additional information about the strike. NPR's Arezou Rezvani and RAD team contributed to this report. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor