Overview
- Testifying to senators on Thursday, Admiral Brad Cooper said his command has no indication to verify media and NGO reports that U.S. strikes hit schools and hospitals in Iran and he acknowledged his staff has not investigated those public cases.
- Cooper said the military has identified only one potential civilian-casualty incident across more than 13,600 U.S. strikes, referring to the Feb. 28 attack on a girls’ elementary school in Minab that the Pentagon is formally investigating.
- The New York Times verified damage to 22 schools and 17 healthcare facilities, while the Human Rights Activists News Agency reports more than 1,700 civilian deaths and the Iranian Red Crescent cites hundreds of damaged schools and clinics, figures not confirmed by U.S. officials.
- Cooper said CENTCOM’s civilian-harm team shrank from 10 officers to one after Pentagon cuts ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, prompting senators to urge him to rebuild the staff.
- Officials said in early March that preliminary findings pointed to a U.S. targeting mistake near the Minab school, and a CENTCOM spokesperson said more preliminary reviews will occur without specifying which cases or when.