US and Israel launch 900 strikes on Iran in 12 hours — 175 girls dead at Minab school, one day after peace deal

What happened

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury — a coordinated military offensive against Iran comprising nearly 900 strikes in 12 hours across Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Qom, Kermanshah, Bandar Abbas, and other cities. Some 200 Air Force aircraft dropped over 550 munitions on more than 500 targets, including air defense systems, missile launchers, government buildings, intelligence and defense ministries, and the presidential palace.

The opening salvo killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Leadership House compound in Tehran, along with his daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild. More than 40 senior Iranian officials — political and military — were killed in the first hours.

At 10:45am local time, a missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province. Satellite analysis confirmed the school was triple-tapped — hit by three distinct strikes. The roof collapsed on students. Between 175 and 180 people were killed, most of them girls aged 7 to 12. Investigations by The New York Times, CBC, NPR, BBC Verify, and The Washington Post concluded the United States was likely responsible. The Post reported that an AI-powered targeting system may have misidentified the school — located adjacent to a naval base — as a military site.

As of March 15, the Minab school strike remained the deadliest single civilian casualty event of the war.

Context

One day earlier — on February 27, 2026 — Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi announced that Iran had agreed to never stockpile enriched uranium and to submit to full verification by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He told CBS News that a peace deal was "within our reach." Iran had, by all diplomatic accounts, agreed to disarm under international supervision.

Twenty-four hours later, the bombs fell.

The stated objective of Operation Epic Fury was regime change and the destruction of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program — the same program Iran had just agreed to constrain. Congress never voted to authorize this war. The Trump administration invoked emergency "self-defense" powers against a country that was actively negotiating disarmament. On March 4, the Senate rejected a war powers resolution 47–53. On March 5, the House rejected one 219–212. Both chambers chose not to stop a war they never started.

No congressional vote. No imminent threat. No strategic benefit — unless you count regime change as strategy and dead children as acceptable overhead.

The world responds

Iran responded with retaliatory strikes — over 500 ballistic and naval missiles and nearly 2,000 drones targeting Israel and US bases across the region, according to Iran's Fars News Agency (Iranian state media — figures not independently verified at time of publication).

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the military escalation and called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities."

Russia's Foreign Ministry called the strikes "a pre-planned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state."

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez rejected "the unilateral military action by the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation."

Oman's Foreign Minister Al-Busaidi — who 24 hours earlier had announced the diplomatic breakthrough — said he was "dismayed" that "active and serious negotiations" had been undermined.

UNESCO called the Minab school strike a "grave violation of humanitarian law." Human Rights Watch demanded an investigation as a war crime. Amnesty International called it an "unlawful strike" that killed over 100 children and demanded accountability.

Only Canada and Australia expressed open support for the US strikes.

The cost counter started at zero on February 28. It hasn't stopped since.