A newly surfaced video broadcast by Iranian state media appears to show a cruise missile striking a walled compound in southeastern Iran where a girls’ school was hit earlier, leaving roughly 175 students and staff dead. The footage has intensified scrutiny over what happened during the deadly strike and who may be responsible.
Video Released by Iranian State Media
The seven-second video, published by Iran’s state-run Mehr News agency, shows a missile slamming into a building inside a fortified compound. The structure appears to be a health clinic located within a complex that once served as a naval base for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In the footage, smoke can already be seen rising from another part of the compound where the girls’ school was located. Iranian state media reports place the death toll from the attack between 165 and 180 people, many of them students.
The strike reportedly occurred shortly after the school itself was hit.
Missile Appears Consistent With Tomahawk Cruise Missile
Although the video quality makes definitive identification difficult, weapons analysts say the missile resembles a Tomahawk cruise missile.
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of global security at Middlebury College, said the munition in the footage appears consistent with the U.S.-made Tomahawk. The United States is the only country known to operate that missile system.
“The first shooters at sea were Tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a press conference held the Monday after the strike.
U.S. officials have confirmed that American forces were operating in southern Iran at the time of the attack.
Trump Blames Iran for School Bombing
Despite the video circulating online, President Donald Trump said over the weekend that Iran itself was responsible for the deadly strike on the school.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump argued that Iranian weapon systems are inaccurate.
“Based on what I’ve seen, I think it was done by Iran,” Trump said. “Because they’re very inaccurate with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.”
However, Lewis said the missile seen in the footage does not resemble known Iranian cruise missile designs.
Location of Video Verified
NPR reporters were able to verify the location where the video was filmed. The footage appears to have been recorded from a housing development under construction directly across the street from the compound.
Visible details in the video—including signage at the clinic entrance—match known features of the facility. The investigative journalism group Bellingcat first geolocated the video.
Experts reviewing the clip say it appears authentic. While AI-generated war footage has circulated online during the latest escalation in the Middle East, fabricated videos typically lack detailed location markers or contain noticeable errors in physics or motion.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the footage.
Satellite Images Suggest Multiple Buildings Hit
Earlier satellite imagery analyzed by NPR and captured by the Earth-imaging company Planet indicated that several buildings inside the compound were damaged in the strike.
The imagery suggests that as many as seven structures were hit, including the clinic building seen in the newly released video.
The complex is located in Minab, a city in Iran’s southeastern Hormozgan province near the Strait of Hormuz—a strategically vital waterway through which a large portion of the world’s oil shipments pass.
Former IRGC Base With Limited Recent Activity
The compound was once used as a small naval installation by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Archival video from a 2010 military exercise shows IRGC personnel launching an Ababil-3 drone from an airfield across from the compound.
However, historical satellite imagery indicates the airfield saw little activity in subsequent years.
NBC News has reported that local officials say the base had been abandoned for more than a decade, though NPR has not independently verified those claims.
Satellite images show the girls’ school was separated from the military compound by a wall between 2013 and 2016. The airstrip itself was removed in 2024.
Online posts from a local construction firm indicate the former runway site was being redeveloped into residential housing.
Clinic Opened in 2025
Construction of the clinic inside the compound appears more recent.
Satellite imagery shows the facility was enclosed by walls between 2023 and 2024 before opening in 2025, according to reporting by the regional Fars News Agency branch in Hormozgan province.
The opening ceremony was attended by IRGC commander Hossein Salami, who was later killed in an Israeli strike the same year. Photographs from the event show Salami cutting a ribbon at the clinic entrance.
Possibility of Outdated Targeting Data
Analysts say one possible explanation for the strike is outdated intelligence.
Lewis suggested that if military planners believed the compound was still functioning as an IRGC facility, they may not have been aware of nearby civilian structures such as the school and clinic.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon is reviewing the incident.
“We’re certainly investigating,” Hegseth said while appearing with Trump on Saturday. “But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
Conclusion
The newly released video has added another layer of uncertainty to an already controversial strike that killed scores of students and staff at a girls’ school in southeastern Iran. While analysts say the missile resembles a U.S. Tomahawk, U.S. officials maintain Iran may be responsible. As investigations continue, the incident highlights the risks of military operations in densely populated areas and the growing role of digital evidence in modern conflict reporting.
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