Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. forces “would not deliberately target a school” after Iranian state media reported over 160 were killed in a strike on a girls’ school on the first day of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.
The reported strike took place on a girls’ elementary school in the town of Minab in southern Iran on Saturday.
The incident has been condemned by the U.N. culture and education agency UNESCO and Nobel Peace Prize-winning education activist Malala Yousafzai.
Deliberately attacking an educational institution or hospital or any other civilian structure is a war crime under international humanitarian law.
“The Department of War would be investigating that if that was our strike, and I would refer your question to them,” Rubio told reporters on Monday when asked about the incident.
“The United States would not deliberately target a school.”
The Pentagon and the U.S. Central Command did not respond to a request for comment. Over the weekend, the U.S. Central Command told media outlets it was “looking into” reports of “civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations.”
