A former senior Pentagon official sounded the alarm on Sunday over their belief that the Trump administration was likely to bury an internal investigation into an incident that coincided with the launch of the U.S. war against Iran, an incident one Democratic lawmaker described as “one of the most horrific episodes” of the “illegal Trump war.”
Trump’s Operation Epic Fury began with “double tap” strikes on Shajareh Tayyebeh, an Iranian girls’ elementary school, which killed at least 156 people, 120 of them children. Trump initially blamed Iran for the strikes before it became clear that a U.S.-made Tomahawk missile was used in the attack.
While the U.S. military is reportedly still investigating the incident, several former Pentagon and national security officials “expressed doubt” to The Guardian for its report published on Sunday that the results of the investigation would ever be made public.
“It’s very rare that you would have a military operation and not have some incidents where there was a mistaken target and civilians are harmed or killed, but then there is a system for investigating, assessing accountability and taking responsibility,” one former senior Pentagon official told The Guardian, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“There’s a very clear process for this, and I’m very doubtful that the [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth Pentagon will follow through.”
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), also speaking with The Guardian, said that she had vigorously pressed the Trump administration for answers, only to be stonewalled.
“The US strike [on the girls’ elementary school] is one of the most horrific episodes of the entire illegal Trump war in Iran,” Ansari said.
“Donald Trump is hiding the truth from the American people and Congress, and deflecting blame to Secretary Hegseth, because he does not want the public to know the true horrors of what he unleashed on the Iranian people with absolutely nothing to show for it.”