‘Not a single one of the kids we pulled out was alive’: Inside sources reveal shocking mistake that made US strike the Iranian school

A Pentagon investigation has found the United States was at fault for a devastating strike on an Iranian elementary school. It is an incident that may have stemmed from outdated targeting data or an intelligence error. This tragic event took place in the opening hours of the US-Israeli aerial campaign against Iran.

Per the Washington Post, parents were rushing to pick up their kids from Shajarah Tayyiba Primary School when the building was hit. Abdollah Karyanipak, a parent, stated that the school entrance collapsed after multiple blasts. “Not a single one of the kids we pulled out was alive. Their bodies were torn apart and burned,” he said, adding that he identified his younger son only by his shoes because his body was unrecognizable.

Now, sources say that the school building was on a US target list, mistakenly identified as a military site, either as a factory or near an arms depot. This makes it unclear if the school was hit by mistake or if intelligence incorrectly identified it as the depot. Worse, a person admitted, “Initially there was some confusion on why it was on the target list.” 

It is insane that no one double-checked 

Satellite imagery analysis shows that the school, which was once part of an Iranian naval base, has been walled off since 2015, with separate entrances added. Experts have pointed out that even proximity to a military compound doesn’t make a school a legitimate target. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initially claimed that Iran was using schools to launch attacks, stating, “Like the terrorist cowards they are, they fire missiles from schools and hospitals, deliberately targeting innocents.” Later, on “60 Minutes,” Hegseth said, “Well, we’re still investigating, and that’s where I’ll leave it today. But what I will emphasize to you and to the world is that, unlike our adversaries, the Iranians, we never target civilians.” 

President Trump, without presenting any evidence, suggested Iran or another country might have attacked the school with Tomahawks, since a “Tomahawk is very generic.” This tragic incident is raising serious questions about the role of artificial intelligence in modern warfare. 

Both the US and Israeli militaries have been using Palantir’s Maven, a battlefield intelligence platform to identify potential targets, allowing them to destroy thousands of sites rapidly. The US version is powered, in part, by Anthropic’s AI, Claude. 

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, who led early Pentagon efforts to integrate AI, highlighted a critical challenge: “feeding current and accurate data into your model is your biggest challenge.” He also cautioned that “anybody who thinks AI is going to magically solve the fog and friction of war is lying to you.” 

The sheer speed and scale of Operation Epic Fury included thousands of targets. It means that older target data didn’t receive the vetting it needed. This horrible mistake lends credibility to Anthropic’s insistence on guardrails for the use of its AI, which led to its ban by the administration.