Hegseth Advisers Plan to Withhold Report on US Strike That Killed 123 Children Until After Midterms

Top Pentagon officials intend to delay releasing an internal report into the attack on a school in southern Iran until after the US midterm elections at the earliest, according to sources familiar with the matter, The Straits Times reported. The sources told the newspaper that advisers to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had communicated the plan to some Pentagon personnel. They requested anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss internal deliberations publicly.

The 28 February strike on Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, killed more than 150 people, including at least 123 children, according to a Bloomberg investigation. The outlet described it as 'the deadliest American military targeting error of the 21st century' in terms of child casualties.

Report Delay Draws Political Fire

According to The Straits Times, the full US probe, launched in March, remains unpublished, although officials said it had been all but complete for several months. No final decision has been made on when details of the Minab report will be disclosed. A Pentagon spokesperson said the investigation remained ongoing and that there were no updates to announce at that time.

The prospect of further delays has drawn criticism from lawmakers seeking answers about how the school was struck and whether the military has taken steps to prevent similar incidents. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who serves on the Senate armed services panel, called the reported delay 'disgraceful' in a statement on 15 October. 'We have waited months – release the report,' Gillibrand said. 'Congress and the American people deserve full transparency and accountability around this attack, and I will not rest until we have it.'

Mark Esper, who served as defence secretary during President Donald Trump's first administration, also stressed the importance of disclosure. 'Transparency is important – obviously for those affected but for us as well – for the nature of our government, which is supposed to be open and transparent,' Esper said. 'We should acknowledge our mistakes and fix it to make sure it doesn't happen again.'

How Intelligence and Data Failures Contributed to the Strike

Bloomberg reported that some personnel at US Central Command relied heavily on Palantir Technologies' Maven Smart System, an AI-enabled platform used to support military analysis and targeting. According to the investigation, some personnel expected the system to flag outdated information or inconsistencies in the intelligence supplied to it. Commercial satellite imagery showed that the school grounds had been separated from the neighbouring military compound, yet the military database continued to classify the site as a military facility, the outlet reported.

Satellite imagery showed features consistent with a school, including brightly painted walls, a football pitch, and playground markings, according to reports. Some US intelligence analysts noticed changes to the site, officials said.

According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, an intelligence analyst recorded observations about changes to the site as early as 2019 in a digital system that was not connected to the primary military intelligence database used for targeting. The observations reportedly did not reach those responsible for preparing the strike package.

UN Inquiry Raises War Crime Concerns

In a report published on 17 September, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the United States was responsible for the strike on the school, which it concluded constituted an indiscriminate attack amounting to a war crime.

The findings are not a criminal court judgment and do not constitute a conviction of any individual. However, they could inform future criminal investigations or be used as evidence in legal proceedings.