Trump says school strike that killed 150 people ‘done by Iran’

In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency, mourners prepare the coffins of children who were killed in a strike on a primary school in Iran’s Hormozgan province for a funeral in Minab on March 3, 2026. (AFP)
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Updated 08 March 2026
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Trump says school strike that killed 150 people ‘done by Iran’

  • Tehran has blamed the US for the strike, which happened in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province on Feb. 28

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed Iran for what the country’s authorities said was a deadly strike on a school in the southern town of Minab, in Hormozgan province.
“We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
According to Iranian authorities, a strike hit a girls’ elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people, mostly students.




In this aerial handout picture released by the Iranian Press Center, mourners dig graves during the funeral for children killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran’s Hormozgan province in Minab on March 3, 2026. (AFP)

Israel and the United States have not claimed responsibility for the reported attack — with US officials saying it remains under investigation — while Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
AFP has neither been able to access the site in order to verify the incident, nor to obtain independent confirmation of a toll.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had targeted a US base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for the strike.
“Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.
The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the US would “not deliberately target a school.”
The New York Times newspaper reported Thursday that US military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards’ base is located, “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike.”
An analysis of social media posts from the time of the attack, as well as photos and videos from witnesses, indicated that the school had been struck at the same time as Guards’ naval base sites, the Times said.


Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham

Updated 12 March 2026
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Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham

  • Trump’s former chief strategist called for the senator to be registered as a foreign agent

DUBAI: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Tuesday for US Senator Lindsey Graham to be registered as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, escalating a growing conservative backlash against the senator’s vocal support for Israel.

Speaking on his podcast “War Room,” Bannon said Graham should be “pulled off of television,” adding: "This is dangerous… because you have guys like Lindsey Graham and dozens more that are doing the wrong thing.”

In a Fox News interview on Monday, Graham said: “To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists… I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day.”
Graham also urged Gulf Arab states to join military action against Iran. “What I want you to do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, [is] step forward and say, ‘this is my fight too, I join America, I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” he said.

In a post on X, Graham questioned the value of a US defense agreement with Saudi Arabia following the evacuation of the American embassy in Riyadh, writing: “Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”

Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, responded to Graham’s comments in a Sky News interview, saying: “He flip flops so much, it’s actually entertaining.”

“On one hand, he says he will never set foot in Saudi Arabia. The next day, he’s here signing multimillion-dollar deals.”

“I don’t think anyone here takes him seriously,” Abbas added.

He warned Graham to be careful what he wished for: “Do you really want Saudi Arabia involved in this war putting our oil facilities at risk or do you want us stabilizing the energy markets?”

Graham pressed further, warning that inaction would carry a price. “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?”

“Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”

 

 

Graham's remarks drew sharp criticism from Bannon and others including podcast host Megyn Kelly.

She questioned on X whether Graham was overstepping his authority as a senator, writing: “When did Lindsay Graham become our president?”

Kelly also said Graham had threatened Lebanon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and Spain within a 24-hour period.

 

 

The problem with Graham “isn’t (just) that he’s a homicidal maniac, it’s that Trump likes and is listening to him,” she said in another post.