US says it wouldn’t deliberately target a school, after Iran claims over 160 killed in strike

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says American forces “would not deliberately target a school,” after Iranian state media claimed that over 160 were killed in a strike on a girls’ school on the first day of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The reported strike took place on a girls’ elementary school in the town of Minab in southern Iran on Saturday, marking the deadliest incident so far amid the war between the US and Israel and Iran. There has been no word on who was responsible.

The incident has been condemned by the UN culture and education agency UNESCO and Nobel Peace Prize-winning education activist Malala Yousafzai. Deliberately attacking an educational institution or hospital or any other civilian structure is a war crime under international humanitarian law.

“The Department of War would be investigating that if that was our strike, and I would refer your question to them,” Rubio tells reporters when asked about the incident. “The United States would not deliberately target a school.”

“It will be very tragic, but I can’t speak to the details behind it because I just don’t have it. It will be a tragic outcome if it’s happened. I don’t have the details as to what led to it but what is clear is that the United States will not deliberately target a school,” Rubio says.

The Pentagon and the US Central Command do not respond to a request for comment. Over the weekend, the US Central Command told media outlets it was “looking into” reports of “civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations.”

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, is also asked about the strike that Iranian state media has blamed on Israel and the US. Danon says he has seen different reports, including that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted the school.

Reuters cannot independently confirm the reports.