Video appears to show U.S. cruise missile striking Iranian school compound

A new video released by Iranian state media shows what appears to be a U.S. cruise missile striking a compound where around 175 Iranian students and staff were killed at a girls school a little over a week ago.

The seven-second video was posted by Mehr News, an Iranian state news agency. It shows the missile slamming into a building inside a walled compound – likely a health clinic that was also inside the perimeter of what was at one point an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval base.

The strike appears to have taken place shortly after the girl's school was hit. In the new video, smoke is already visibly rising from the part of the compound where the school was located. State media reports put the death toll from the bombing at somewhere between 165 and 180, many of them students.

Although the quality of the video makes precisely identifying the munition difficult, the missile appears consistent with a Tomahawk cruise missile, according to Jeffrey Lewis, a professor of global security at Middlebury College. The U.S. is the only country involved in the conflict known to have Tomahawk missiles, and U.S. officials say the military was operating in the south of the country at the time of the strike.

"The first shooters at sea were Tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy," Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a press conference on the Monday after the strike.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on Saturday, President Trump accused Iran of being responsible for the school bombing.

"Based on what I've seen, I think it was done by Iran," Trump said. "Because they're very, inaccurate as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran."

Lewis, however, said that the missile in the video did not appear to be consistent with known, Iranian-made cruise missile designs.

A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command declined to comment to NPR, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident.

NPR was able to verify the location of where the video was shot to a housing development under construction across the street from the compound. Numerous details, including the sign at the clinic entrance, matched known details about the compound where the school was located. The video was first geolocated by the online research group Bellingcat.

The short video appeared to be authentic. While AI-generated videos have been posted online during the latest conflict with Iran, they typically do not contain details of a specific location, unless it is already well known, like a major landmark. Many also contain errors in physics or other inaccuracies when showing a missile or rocket attack.

NPR was the first to report on satellite imagery from the company Planet that suggested multiple buildings, including the clinic, were hit in what appeared to be a precision strike that resulted in the deaths at the school. In total, seven buildings were hit in the strike on the complex, which at one point had been an Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) naval base.

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The base, located in the southeastern city of Minab, appeared to be a relatively minor facility. NPR was able to find one video shot at the base during a 2010 military exercise that showed members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard flying an Ababil-3 drone from an airfield directly across from the compound.

But historic satellite imagery showed little activity at the airfield in the years following that demonstration. NBC News has reported that local officials say the base was abandoned for over a decade, but NPR has not been able to independently verify those claims.

The school was separated from the compound by a wall between 2013 and 2016, according to satellite imagery. Satellite imagery also shows the airstrip was removed in 2024. Online posts from a local construction firm and verified by NPR show the land where the runway once stood was being turned into a housing development. The clinic was walled off between 2023 and 2024, and opened in 2025, according to a local press report from Fars News Agency-Hormozgan, reviewed by NPR.

The opening indicated that the site still had ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. According to the reports, the clinic was opened by IRGC chief Hossein Salami, who was killed in an Israeli strike later that year. A photo appeared to show Salami cutting a ribbon at the clinic.

Lewis said that it's possible the school and clinic were struck as a result of outdated targeting information.

Speaking beside Trump on Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. was continuing to look into what happened at the school. "We're certainly investigating," he said. "But the only side that targets civilians is Iran."

NPR's RAD team contributed to this report.

Contact Geoff Brumfiel on Signal at gbrumfiel.13

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