In a post on Sunday, Iranian authorities identified the officers as Commander Leigh R Tate and Executive Officer Jeffrey E York, alleging they authorised the launch of missiles that hit the school on February 28.
The embassy alleged that the two officers authorised the launch of Tomahawk missiles on three occasions.”Remember these two criminals: Leigh R. Tate and Jeffrey E. York. By ordering the launch of three Tomahawk missiles, they slaughtered 168 innocent schoolchildren in Minab. Do they have children of their own? Can they look them in the eyes? How do they sleep at night with this,” the embassy wrote on X.
Remember these two criminals. Leigh R. Tate, the commander, and Jeffrey E. York, the executive officer of the USS Spruance, who ordered the launch of Tomahawk missiles three times, killing 168 innocent children at a school in Minab.
Don’t they have children of their own? pic.twitter.com/urVURioWb3— Iran Embassy SA (@IraninSA) March 28, 2026
Iran has called the Minab school strike a ‘planned assault,’ saying it was not an accident but a deliberate attack carried out in phases on the very first day of the conflict.
Speaking at a debate in Geneva, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the target was the Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ School and that more than 175 students and teachers were killed.
Early findings indicate that the Tomahawk missile actually targeted a nearby military facility, not the school. US officials said the target location was generated using old or outdated data by the United States Central Command.
Earlier, the school and the military site were part of the same larger complex, and due to outdated maps, the system may have confused the two locations.
Iran’s spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei, however, shared videos of the strike and said the US committed a war crime.
