Hegseth says US "investigating" deadly strike on Iranian girls’ school

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington is “investigating” a deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed more than 160 people, as he also dismissed suggestions that a separate missile interception in the eastern Mediterranean could trigger NATO’s collective defence clause.

Asked about the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, Hegseth said the US does not target civilians.

“All I can say is that we are investigating that. We of course never target civilian targets, but we are taking a look and investigating that,” said Hegseth, Caliber.Az cites an Al Jazeera report.

The school was struck on February 28, the first day of US and Israeli attacks in Iran, killing 160 children.

In separate remarks to reporters, Hegseth addressed reports that an Iranian missile was intercepted in the eastern Mediterranean before entering Turkish airspace. He said he had “no sense” that the incident could trigger NATO’s Article Five on collective defence.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization treaty is the cornerstone of the alliance’s collective defence principle, under which an armed attack against one or more members in Europe or North America is considered an attack against all.

Earlier, the Ministry of National Defence of Türkiye announced that a ballistic missile launched from Iran and detected heading toward Turkish airspace was successfully intercepted by NATO air and missile defence systems in the eastern Mediterranean.

By Sabina Mammadli