Pentagon Probe Blames AI, Stale Intel for Strike Killing 123 Children in Minab
Updated
Updated · Bloomberg · Sep 20
Pentagon Probe Blames AI, Stale Intel for Strike Killing 123 Children in Minab
3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Sep 20
Summary
Two Tomahawk missiles hit Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School on Feb. 28, and Pentagon investigators found the deadliest U.S. child-casualty targeting error this century stemmed from a chain of preventable failures.
More than 1,000 Iranian targets were struck in the first 24 hours, compressing review timelines as outdated imagery, an uncorrected military-site classification and overreliance on Palantir’s Maven AI pushed the Minab school onto the day-one target list.
Roughly 90% cuts to Pentagon civilian-harm mitigation staffing left Centcom’s team at 1 from 10, and no such reviewer examined the Minab site before the strike.
The U.N. said there are reasonable grounds to view the Minab strike and another Feb. 28 attack as war crimes, while the U.S. still has not publicly accepted responsibility and has not released its nearly completed report.
The case has intensified scrutiny of AI-driven targeting, target-library upkeep and the Pentagon’s handling of civilian protection as Congress presses for briefings on what went wrong.