U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called on the Pentagon to release its investigation into the February bombing of an elementary school in Minab, Iran, after a report that defense officials intend to keep the findings from the public until after the November midterm elections.
The New York Democrat, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, said Thursday that Congress and the public have waited months for an account of the strike. The reported delay has not been publicly confirmed by the Pentagon, and the investigation's final findings have not been released.
“Withholding this report until after the election is not only disgraceful, it is cowardly,” Gillibrand said. She accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of putting politics ahead of accountability and urged the department to make the report public.
Months of demands for answers
The Feb. 28 strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab during the opening day of U.S. military operations against Iran. In a July letter to Pentagon leaders, Gillibrand and 24 other senators said the attack reportedly killed about 120 children and at least 175 people overall. Those figures are reported casualties, not findings from the still-unreleased Pentagon inquiry.
The senators said in July that an investigation had reportedly been submitted in April but remained under review. They requested an unclassified version suitable for public release and information about how the school was identified and targeted.
Gillibrand has raised the strike in Armed Services Committee questioning and sought a bipartisan Senate investigation. Her latest statement also criticized cuts to military offices responsible for limiting civilian harm. The Defense Department has not publicly accepted responsibility for the strike, according to Gillibrand's office.
The Pentagon report, once released, could address the cause of the strike, the targeting process and any corrective steps. Until then, responsibility and the full findings remain subject to an unfinished public accounting.
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