Missile particles that Iranian officers declare was recovered from the deadly strikes which hit an elementary school in southern Iran on February 28 seems to be from an American Tomahawk cruise missile, in accordance to NCS evaluation.
Four images of the fragments had been shared on Telegram by Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, with the caption claiming they had been remnants from the strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab, the place state media say at least 168 youngsters and 14 lecturers had been killed.
It was not doable to verify whether or not the fragments, pictured on a desk in entrance of the ruined school constructing, had been from the school strike, a strike on a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base or from elsewhere. They do nonetheless appear to be according to a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, in accordance to a NCS overview and knowledgeable evaluation. A Tomahawk missile was utilized in at least one strike on the IRGC base subsequent to the school, in accordance to a NCS evaluation of a video which captured it hitting a constructing. The Pentagon classifies the missiles as precision-guided munitions. Multiple buildings at the bottom appear to have been struck by precision missiles.
The images are the most recent piece in a mounting physique of proof which factors to US duty for the strike and seems to contradict President Donald Trump’s claims round it. The president final week blamed Iran, doubling down Monday when he claimed the nation had Tomahawk missiles in its arsenal, which it doesn’t, in accordance to specialists.
On Tuesday, the White House said that the Pentagon would launch its investigation into the strike on the school.
One remnant pictured is marked with “Made in USA” and the title of Ohio-based munitions producer Globe Motors, an organization that has obtained thousands and thousands of {dollars} in Department of Defense contracts to construct missile elements, most lately in 2025, in accordance to publicly out there knowledge.
Another fragment within the photographs is marked “SDL ANTENNA,” brief for “satellite data link antenna,” a part of the communications unit utilized in newer Tomahawk variants. The title of one other firm – Colorado‑primarily based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which was acquired by the British agency BAE Systems in 2024 – is printed on the missile half.
The imagery is according to photographs of Tomahawk missile elements recovered from previous conflicts which had been archived on weapon fragment database the Open Source Munitions Portal. This consists of the part with Globe Motors branding, an instance of which was recovered from a strike in Yemen final 12 months, in accordance to an entry within the database.
Markus Schiller, a rocket knowledgeable and affiliate senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, recognized one of the elements within the pictures as a Globe Motors actuator motor and confirmed NCS’s evaluation that the fragment was according to a Tomahawk. Actuators are chargeable for shifting the fins of a missile, permitting it to fly and curve because it travels by way of the sky. He individually recognized one other remnant which appeared to be half of the missile’s jet engine.
Former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal group member Trevor Ball, who works for open-source investigative group Bellingcat, additionally assessed that the fragments had been half of a Tomahawk missile, whereas acknowledging that it was not doable to decide their provenance from these pictures alone.
On Sunday, footage emerged showing to show an American BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) focusing on the IRGC naval base adjoining to the school. That video, posted by semi-official Iranian information company Mehr News, was the primary to show missiles hanging the world, with an enormous plume of smoke seen coming from the route of the elementary school.
It was not instantly clear which precise constructing was struck, however an evaluation by NCS urged that it hit a constructing inside or instantly subsequent to a medical clinic operated by the IRGC at the bottom. The video emerged simply over per week after the Defense Department launched movies of US Navy warships firing Tomahawks in the direction of Iran on the identical day the school was struck and following a NCS analysis of satellite tv for pc imagery, geolocated movies and statements from US officers pointed to the US doubtless being chargeable for the deadly strike.
Trump pushed again in opposition to the suggestion the US had carried out the strike in a information convention Monday, during which he claimed Iran additionally had Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, produced by US protection contractor Raytheon, are held solely by a small group of US allies approved to buy them. Even Israel, one of Washington’s closest companions, doesn’t possess them, and a number of munitions specialists confirmed to NCS that Iran doesn’t have them both.
On Sunday, Trump informed reporters that “based on what I’ve seen,” the strike on the school “was done by Iran,” a declare Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to verify, saying the US was nonetheless investigating.
Wes Bryant, a former adviser on precision warfare and civilian hurt mitigation at the Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center, described hanging a school with a weapon similar to a Tomahawk as “a troubling departure from foundational US targeting doctrine and practices,” in feedback made to NCS.
“This tragic event is indicative of a recklessly planned and executed campaign in which attention to precision and the legal and moral obligations to protect civilians clearly took a backseat,” Bryant continued.