Overview
- A missile strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab killed large numbers of children on February 28 when U.S. forces misidentified the site and U.S. officials concluded within hours that the strike was theirs.
- Pentagon investigators say automation in Palantir’s Maven Smart System shortened traditional review steps and helped elevate the misclassified site into a target, replacing or compressing checks normally done by analysts, imagery specialists, lawyers and targeteers.
- Investigators found the targeting used outdated satellite imagery and that an analyst’s 2019 warning about changes at the site was not integrated into the main targeting database, contributing to the misidentification.
- The internal review blames compressed mass‑striking orders that hit over 1,000 targets quickly and deep cuts to civilian‑harm mitigation teams that left far fewer personnel to vet potential strikes.
- The Pentagon’s full report has not been released and the U.N. fact‑finding mission has said there are reasonable grounds to believe some strikes may amount to war crimes, increasing the risk of legal and diplomatic consequences.