Officials suggest America was probably to blame for incident that killed 165 civilians

Mourners cry during the funeral of children killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran's Hormozgan province, in Minab on March 3. Photo / Amirhossein Khorgooei, ISNA, AFP

American forces were likely responsible for strikes on an Iranian girls’ school that killed as many as 165 students and teachers, United States military investigators believe.

The attack last week on the Shajare Tayyebe primary school in southern Minab is the deadliest single incident in a week of war, which has killed more than 1230 people across Iran.

If US forces were responsible, it would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in the past three decades of American wars in the Middle East.

Witnesses told the Telegraph that the attack came after the school’s head teacher called parents to take their children home early because a war had started.

An explosion hit the building about 40 minutes later, according to one parent who managed to collect his daughter in time and spoke to the Telegraph via an intermediary.

Many of those killed were children from outlying villages whose parents had not yet reached the school for the early pick-up.

Asked about the strike during a news briefing last week, Pete Hegseth, the US Defence Secretary, said: “We’re investigating that”.

On Saturday, US officials told Reuters that internal military investigators believed US forces were likely responsible but have not yet reached a final conclusion.

US central command, which is running Operation Epic Fury – the assault on Iran – said it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Mojtaba Ghahremani, Iran’s chief justice for Hormozgan province, said five airstrikes hit the school at 11.30am, followed by a sixth strike at 3.40pm targeting a clinic adjacent to the school.

Ghahremani said shrapnel from “enemy” weapons had been recovered from the scene and would form the basis of a war crimes investigation. He called on the International Criminal Court to investigate.

The attack killed 66 boys and 54 girls, with 26 female teachers and four parents who were at the school, Ghahremani said. Others living nearby were also killed.

The Iranian Red Crescent later revised the total death toll to 165.

Authorities said 95 people were also wounded in the strikes.

That would account for nearly an eighth of Iran’s total confirmed death toll of 1230 from a week of US-Israeli strikes, according to the Iranian Government’s martyrs and veterans’ affairs foundation.

“Many are blaming America because they think the Israelis are hitting the west of the country. We are too far from Israel for them to hit here,” said Amir, a student from the town.

“No one can say it was them or anything else. The only way for us to understand it is either the Americans will say we hit it wrongly, or the regime falls and it emerges that someone else did it. Most of the people think that America hit it,” he added.

“In the past people trusted that Israel, and more so America, would hit only specific targets.”

Satellite pictures show multiple precision strikes also hit at least six Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) buildings next to the school.

Four buildings inside the IRGC naval base were destroyed and two others showed impact points at the centre of their roofs.

Footage circulating on social media showed young girls trapped under rubble, with loved ones screaming outside the building, and emergency workers digging through debris as they attempted to reach victims.

Families held funerals at Behesht Zahra cemetery in Minab. Drone images from the site show a mass grave was dug to bury the dead.

Videos showed small coffins draped with Iranian flags being passed across large crowds towards the grave site.

Amir added: “People are afraid and could not disagree. Everybody went. Even my family, who are very anti-regime went. They arrived there and suddenly there were people crying for Khamenei and whatever.”

A former US national security adviser denied that American forces would have deliberately targeted the school.

“I don’t think the United States, in any conceivable circumstance, would directly target a civilian structure like that,” John Bolton told the BBC’s Newsnight.

“If, in fact, it was an American weapon that did it, it was because the weapon malfunctioned, I’m sure we will try and make recompense.”

He added: “My advice to the Iranians in the future, and anybody else, is: don’t build girls’ schools right next to naval bases”.

Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.