Photos appear to show US Tomahawk missile fragments at site of deadly Iran school strike
Allegra Goodwin, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Thomas Bordeaux, CNN
Tue, March 10, 2026
Missile that hit the IRGC base adjacent to the school in Minab
A fragment marked “SDL ANTENNA,” made by Ball Aerospace and apparently supplied to the US military in 2014, was among the debris. - IRIB/Telegram
The photographs are the latest piece in a mounting body of evidence which points to US responsibility for the strike and appears to contradict President Donald Trump’s claims around it. The president last week blamed Iran, doubling down Monday when he claimed the country had Tomahawk missiles in its arsenal, which it does not, according to experts.
On Tuesday, the White House said that the Pentagon would release its investigation into the strike on the school.
One remnant pictured is marked with “Made in USA” and the name of Ohio-based munitions manufacturer Globe Motors, a company that has received millions of dollars in Department of Defense contracts to build missile components, most recently in 2025, according to publicly available data.
Another fragment in the photos is marked “SDL ANTENNA,” short for “satellite data link antenna,” a component of the communications unit used in newer Tomahawk variants. The name of another company – Colorado‑based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which was acquired by the British firm BAE Systems in 2024 – is imprinted on the missile part.
The imagery is consistent with photos of Tomahawk missile parts recovered from past conflicts which were archived on weapon fragment database the Open Source Munitions Portal. This includes the component with Globe Motors branding, an example of which was recovered from a strike in Yemen last year, according to an entry in the database.
Markus Schiller, a rocket expert and associate senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, identified one of the parts in the images as a Globe Motors actuator motor and confirmed CNN’s analysis that the fragment was consistent with a Tomahawk. Actuators are responsible for moving the fins of a missile, allowing it to fly and curve as it travels through the sky. He separately identified another remnant which appeared to be part of the missile’s jet engine.
This fragment, identified by CNN as an actuator motor used to steer a Tomahawk missile, is marked with “Made in USA” and the name of Ohio-based munitions manufacturer Globe Motors. - IRIB/Telegram
CNN identified remnants of a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile among the fragments, including a satellite antenna and an actuator motor. - IRIB/Telegram
Munition fragments are displayed on a table near the shell of the Shajareh Tayyiba elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, where state media say at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed in a strike on February 28. - IRIB/TelegramMore
Former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member Trevor Ball, who works for open-source investigative group Bellingcat, also assessed that the fragments were part of a Tomahawk missile, while acknowledging that it was not possible to determine their provenance from these images alone.
On Sunday, footage emerged appearing to show an American BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) targeting the IRGC naval base adjacent to the school. That video, posted by semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr News, was the first to show missiles striking the area, with a massive plume of smoke seen coming from the direction of the elementary school.
It was not immediately clear which exact building was struck, but an analysis by CNN suggested that it hit a building within or immediately next to a medical clinic operated by the IRGC at the base. The video emerged just over a week after the Defense Department released videos of US Navy warships firing Tomahawks towards Iran on the same day the school was struck and following a CNN analysis of satellite imagery, geolocated videos and statements from US officials pointed to the US likely being responsible for the deadly strike.
Trump pushed back against the suggestion the US had carried out the strike in a news conference Monday, in which he claimed Iran also had Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, produced by US defense contractor Raytheon, are held only by a small group of US allies authorized to purchase them. Even Israel, one of Washington’s closest partners, does not possess them, and multiple munitions experts confirmed to CNN that Iran does not have them either.
On Sunday, Trump told reporters that “based on what I’ve seen,” the strike on the school “was done by Iran,” a claim Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to confirm, saying the US was still investigating.
Wes Bryant, a former adviser on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation at the Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center, described striking a school with a weapon such as a Tomahawk as “a troubling departure from foundational US targeting doctrine and practices,” in comments made to CNN.
“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.
Allegra Goodwin, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Thomas Bordeaux, CNN
Tue, March 10, 2026
Missile that hit the IRGC base adjacent to the school in Minab
- Mehr News Agency
Missile debris that Iranian officials claim was recovered from the deadly strikes which hit an elementary school in southern Iran on February 28 appears to be from an American Tomahawk cruise missile, according to CNN analysis.
Four photographs of the fragments were shared on Telegram by Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, with the caption claiming they were remnants from the strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab, where state media say at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed.
It was not possible to confirm whether the fragments, pictured on a table in front of the ruined school building, were from the school strike, a strike on a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base or from elsewhere. They do however appear to be consistent with a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, according to a CNN review and expert analysis. A Tomahawk missile was used in at least one strike on the IRGC base next to the school, according to a CNN analysis of a video which captured it hitting a building. The Pentagon classifies the missiles as precision-guided munitions. Multiple buildings at the base appear to have been struck by precision missiles
Missile debris that Iranian officials claim was recovered from the deadly strikes which hit an elementary school in southern Iran on February 28 appears to be from an American Tomahawk cruise missile, according to CNN analysis.
Four photographs of the fragments were shared on Telegram by Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, with the caption claiming they were remnants from the strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab, where state media say at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed.
It was not possible to confirm whether the fragments, pictured on a table in front of the ruined school building, were from the school strike, a strike on a neighboring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base or from elsewhere. They do however appear to be consistent with a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, according to a CNN review and expert analysis. A Tomahawk missile was used in at least one strike on the IRGC base next to the school, according to a CNN analysis of a video which captured it hitting a building. The Pentagon classifies the missiles as precision-guided munitions. Multiple buildings at the base appear to have been struck by precision missiles
A fragment marked “SDL ANTENNA,” made by Ball Aerospace and apparently supplied to the US military in 2014, was among the debris. - IRIB/Telegram
The photographs are the latest piece in a mounting body of evidence which points to US responsibility for the strike and appears to contradict President Donald Trump’s claims around it. The president last week blamed Iran, doubling down Monday when he claimed the country had Tomahawk missiles in its arsenal, which it does not, according to experts.
On Tuesday, the White House said that the Pentagon would release its investigation into the strike on the school.
One remnant pictured is marked with “Made in USA” and the name of Ohio-based munitions manufacturer Globe Motors, a company that has received millions of dollars in Department of Defense contracts to build missile components, most recently in 2025, according to publicly available data.
Another fragment in the photos is marked “SDL ANTENNA,” short for “satellite data link antenna,” a component of the communications unit used in newer Tomahawk variants. The name of another company – Colorado‑based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which was acquired by the British firm BAE Systems in 2024 – is imprinted on the missile part.
The imagery is consistent with photos of Tomahawk missile parts recovered from past conflicts which were archived on weapon fragment database the Open Source Munitions Portal. This includes the component with Globe Motors branding, an example of which was recovered from a strike in Yemen last year, according to an entry in the database.
Markus Schiller, a rocket expert and associate senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, identified one of the parts in the images as a Globe Motors actuator motor and confirmed CNN’s analysis that the fragment was consistent with a Tomahawk. Actuators are responsible for moving the fins of a missile, allowing it to fly and curve as it travels through the sky. He separately identified another remnant which appeared to be part of the missile’s jet engine.
This fragment, identified by CNN as an actuator motor used to steer a Tomahawk missile, is marked with “Made in USA” and the name of Ohio-based munitions manufacturer Globe Motors. - IRIB/Telegram
CNN identified remnants of a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile among the fragments, including a satellite antenna and an actuator motor. - IRIB/Telegram
Munition fragments are displayed on a table near the shell of the Shajareh Tayyiba elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, where state media say at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed in a strike on February 28. - IRIB/TelegramMore
Former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member Trevor Ball, who works for open-source investigative group Bellingcat, also assessed that the fragments were part of a Tomahawk missile, while acknowledging that it was not possible to determine their provenance from these images alone.
On Sunday, footage emerged appearing to show an American BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) targeting the IRGC naval base adjacent to the school. That video, posted by semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr News, was the first to show missiles striking the area, with a massive plume of smoke seen coming from the direction of the elementary school.
It was not immediately clear which exact building was struck, but an analysis by CNN suggested that it hit a building within or immediately next to a medical clinic operated by the IRGC at the base. The video emerged just over a week after the Defense Department released videos of US Navy warships firing Tomahawks towards Iran on the same day the school was struck and following a CNN analysis of satellite imagery, geolocated videos and statements from US officials pointed to the US likely being responsible for the deadly strike.
Trump pushed back against the suggestion the US had carried out the strike in a news conference Monday, in which he claimed Iran also had Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, produced by US defense contractor Raytheon, are held only by a small group of US allies authorized to purchase them. Even Israel, one of Washington’s closest partners, does not possess them, and multiple munitions experts confirmed to CNN that Iran does not have them either.
On Sunday, Trump told reporters that “based on what I’ve seen,” the strike on the school “was done by Iran,” a claim Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to confirm, saying the US was still investigating.
Wes Bryant, a former adviser on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation at the Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center, described striking a school with a weapon such as a Tomahawk as “a troubling departure from foundational US targeting doctrine and practices,” in comments made to CNN.
“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.
Stephen Prager,
Common Dreams
March 10, 2026
FILE PHOTO: Iranian flags fly as fire and smoke from an Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot rise, following Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025.
March 10, 2026
FILE PHOTO: Iranian flags fly as fire and smoke from an Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot rise, following Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025.
Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
President Donald Trump said the US Navy chose to sink an Iranian frigate, killing more than 100 sailors last week, because it was “more fun” than capturing the vessel, even though the ship posed no threat.
Though death tolls vary, Iran’s state media organization, the Islamic Republic News Organization, reported on Sunday that 104 crew members were killed in the attack and that 32 others were injured when a US submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean on March 4 as it departed from the Milan Peace 2026 naval drills hosted in India.
The Dena was more than 2,000 miles away from the Persian Gulf when it was attacked, far from the hostilities unleashed last weekend when the US and Israel launched a war against Iran. Contradicting US claims, Iranian and Indian officials have said it was not armed
In what political commentator Adam Schwarz described as “the most blasé admission of a war crime by a US president in history,” Trump on Monday casually recounted the US Navy’s decision to attack the ship before a gathering of Republicans at a Congressional Institute event, a GOP-aligned nonprofit retreat organizer. He suggested that the Navy blew the boat up not to neutralize a threat, but purely for its own sake.
After making the exaggerated boast that Iran’s navy is “gone” following aggressive US bombing, Trump said at first he “got a little upset” with the military brass who ordered the sinking of the Dena, which he said they described as a “top-of-the-line” vessel.
Trump said he asked: “Why don’t we just capture the ship? We could have used it. Why did we sink them?”
He said that an unspecified official told him, “It’s more fun to sink them.”
As the crowd laughed, Trump went on, chuckling himself: “They like sinking them better. They say it’s safer to sink them. I guess it’s probably true.”
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, described the ship as operating in a purely “ceremonial” role and said it was “unloaded” and “unarmed” at the time of the attack last week.
Rahul Bedi, an independent defense analyst in India, told the Associated Press that while the ship may have used some limited non-offensive ammunition during naval exercises, drill protocol requires “the participating platforms to be unarmed.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed the vessel was a “predator ship,” while the US Indo-Pacific Command has said claims that the ship was unarmed are “false.” However, it has provided no evidence that it posed a threat at the time of the attack.
The attack itself was likely legal under the rules of naval warfare, even if the ship was unarmed, though its ethical and tactical justification has been called into question.
“A military ship might be a lawful target,” Phyllis Bennis, the co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ New Internationalism Project told Common Dreams. “But firing on any ship—any people, anywhere—for ‘fun’ represents the kind of immoral depravity that this White House is infamous for.”
Bennis added that “failing to do everything possible to rescue those aboard is certainly a war crime,” as the Second Geneva Convention requires militaries to take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded, and sick.
The Dena’s 32 survivors, as well as dozens of dead bodies, had to be pulled from the water by a Sri Lankan joint rescue operation following a distress call. The survivors were quickly rushed to a local hospital in Galle City.
Hegseth has previously come under fire for reportedly ordering a second strike on shipwrecked sailors who survived the bombing of an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean.
Many have described that attack on September 2 as an exceptionally blatant war crime in a broadly illegal campaign that has extrajudicially killed at least 156 people.
In carrying out its war against Iran, Hegseth has emphasized that the US would not abide by what he called “stupid rules of engagement.”
Thousands of civilian targets, including schools, hospitals, and residential areas, have reportedly been attacked by US and Israeli strikes, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
As of Monday, Iranian Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian said at least 1,255 people have been killed, including 200 children and 11 healthcare workers.
Though it may have still technically been legal, journalist Mark Ames, the co-host of the geopolitics podcast Radio War Nerd, argued that attacking a ship that posed no threat shows that Trump is “cowardly scum” who “gets his kicks killing those who can’t fight back.”
“The ship was unarmed. That’s why Trump and Hegseth chose to murder them,” Ames wrote on social media. “Tormenting those who can’t fight back is its own sadistic pleasure.”
Bennis added that even if attacking the ship itself was lawful in a vacuum, it took place before a backdrop of brazen “illegality.”
“This entire shocking episode represents a clear US violation of what the Nuremberg trials identified as the ‘supreme international crime’: the crime of aggression,” she said. “The US had no legal right to go to war against Iran. The [United Nations] Security Council had not authorized the use of force, and there was no ‘armed attack’ from Iran against the US that required immediate self-defense.
“Without either of those, the UN Charter is very clear that no country may attack another country,” she continued. “To do so, as the Nuremberg judges found, constitutes the crime of aggression—the ultimate crime.”
NOTE: This piece has been updated following publication to include additional comments.
President Donald Trump said the US Navy chose to sink an Iranian frigate, killing more than 100 sailors last week, because it was “more fun” than capturing the vessel, even though the ship posed no threat.
Though death tolls vary, Iran’s state media organization, the Islamic Republic News Organization, reported on Sunday that 104 crew members were killed in the attack and that 32 others were injured when a US submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean on March 4 as it departed from the Milan Peace 2026 naval drills hosted in India.
The Dena was more than 2,000 miles away from the Persian Gulf when it was attacked, far from the hostilities unleashed last weekend when the US and Israel launched a war against Iran. Contradicting US claims, Iranian and Indian officials have said it was not armed
In what political commentator Adam Schwarz described as “the most blasé admission of a war crime by a US president in history,” Trump on Monday casually recounted the US Navy’s decision to attack the ship before a gathering of Republicans at a Congressional Institute event, a GOP-aligned nonprofit retreat organizer. He suggested that the Navy blew the boat up not to neutralize a threat, but purely for its own sake.
After making the exaggerated boast that Iran’s navy is “gone” following aggressive US bombing, Trump said at first he “got a little upset” with the military brass who ordered the sinking of the Dena, which he said they described as a “top-of-the-line” vessel.
Trump said he asked: “Why don’t we just capture the ship? We could have used it. Why did we sink them?”
He said that an unspecified official told him, “It’s more fun to sink them.”
As the crowd laughed, Trump went on, chuckling himself: “They like sinking them better. They say it’s safer to sink them. I guess it’s probably true.”
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, described the ship as operating in a purely “ceremonial” role and said it was “unloaded” and “unarmed” at the time of the attack last week.
Rahul Bedi, an independent defense analyst in India, told the Associated Press that while the ship may have used some limited non-offensive ammunition during naval exercises, drill protocol requires “the participating platforms to be unarmed.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed the vessel was a “predator ship,” while the US Indo-Pacific Command has said claims that the ship was unarmed are “false.” However, it has provided no evidence that it posed a threat at the time of the attack.
The attack itself was likely legal under the rules of naval warfare, even if the ship was unarmed, though its ethical and tactical justification has been called into question.
“A military ship might be a lawful target,” Phyllis Bennis, the co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ New Internationalism Project told Common Dreams. “But firing on any ship—any people, anywhere—for ‘fun’ represents the kind of immoral depravity that this White House is infamous for.”
Bennis added that “failing to do everything possible to rescue those aboard is certainly a war crime,” as the Second Geneva Convention requires militaries to take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded, and sick.
The Dena’s 32 survivors, as well as dozens of dead bodies, had to be pulled from the water by a Sri Lankan joint rescue operation following a distress call. The survivors were quickly rushed to a local hospital in Galle City.
Hegseth has previously come under fire for reportedly ordering a second strike on shipwrecked sailors who survived the bombing of an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean.
Many have described that attack on September 2 as an exceptionally blatant war crime in a broadly illegal campaign that has extrajudicially killed at least 156 people.
In carrying out its war against Iran, Hegseth has emphasized that the US would not abide by what he called “stupid rules of engagement.”
Thousands of civilian targets, including schools, hospitals, and residential areas, have reportedly been attacked by US and Israeli strikes, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.
As of Monday, Iranian Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian said at least 1,255 people have been killed, including 200 children and 11 healthcare workers.
Though it may have still technically been legal, journalist Mark Ames, the co-host of the geopolitics podcast Radio War Nerd, argued that attacking a ship that posed no threat shows that Trump is “cowardly scum” who “gets his kicks killing those who can’t fight back.”
“The ship was unarmed. That’s why Trump and Hegseth chose to murder them,” Ames wrote on social media. “Tormenting those who can’t fight back is its own sadistic pleasure.”
Bennis added that even if attacking the ship itself was lawful in a vacuum, it took place before a backdrop of brazen “illegality.”
“This entire shocking episode represents a clear US violation of what the Nuremberg trials identified as the ‘supreme international crime’: the crime of aggression,” she said. “The US had no legal right to go to war against Iran. The [United Nations] Security Council had not authorized the use of force, and there was no ‘armed attack’ from Iran against the US that required immediate self-defense.
“Without either of those, the UN Charter is very clear that no country may attack another country,” she continued. “To do so, as the Nuremberg judges found, constitutes the crime of aggression—the ultimate crime.”
NOTE: This piece has been updated following publication to include additional comments.
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