Missile debris that Iranian authorities say they recovered from the deadly attack on an elementary school in southern Iran on February 28 appears to be from a US Tomahawk cruise missile, according to a CNN analysis.
Four photos of the debris were shared on Iranian state broadcaster IRIB’s Telegram with a caption saying they were the remains of the attack on Shajare Tayba school in Minab, which state media said killed at least 168 children and 14 teachers.
It was not possible to confirm whether the photo fragments on a table in front of the abandoned school building came from the school strike, the attack on the nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) naval base, or from elsewhere. But they appear to be consistent with U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to a CNN review and expert analysis. Tomahawk missiles were used in at least one attack on the Revolutionary Guards base next to the school, according to a CNN analysis of video footage of the building crashes. The Pentagon classifies the missile as a precision-guided munition. It appears that multiple buildings at the base were attacked with precision missiles.
The photos are the latest in a growing body of evidence pointing to U.S. responsibility for the airstrike and appearing to contradict President Donald Trump’s claims about it. The president criticized Iran last week and doubled down on Monday when he claimed the country had Tomahawk missiles, which experts say is not the case.
The White House announced Tuesday that the Pentagon will announce an investigation into the school walkout.
According to publicly available data, one of the pieces of debris pictured is marked “Made in the USA” and the name of Globe Motors, an Ohio-based munitions manufacturer. Globe Motors is a company that most recently received millions of dollars in a Pentagon contract to manufacture missile parts in 2025.
Another fragment of the photo is marked “SDL ANTENNA”. This stands for “Satellite Data Link Antenna” and is a component of the communications unit used in the new Tomahawk model. The missile is engraved with the name of another company, Colorado-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies, which was acquired by British company BAE Systems in 2024.
This image matches photos of Tomahawk missile parts recovered from past conflicts archived in the open source military portal’s weapons debris database. It includes components bearing Globe Motors branding, one example of which was recovered from last year’s Yemen strike, according to database entries.
Marcus Schiller, a rocket expert and deputy senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, identified one of the parts in the image as a Globe Motors actuator motor, confirming CNN’s analysis that the fragment matched a Tomahawk. The actuator is responsible for moving the missile’s fins, allowing it to fly and turn as it moves through the sky. Separately, he identified another piece of debris that appeared to be part of the missile’s jet engine.
Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member with the open source research organization Bellingcat, also assessed that the fragments were part of a Tomahawk missile, but acknowledged that it was impossible to determine their origin from these images alone.
On Sunday, footage emerged that appeared to show an American BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) targeting the Revolutionary Guard naval base adjacent to the school. The video, posted by Iran’s semi-official news agency Mehr News, showed heavy smoke billowing from the direction of the elementary school and was the first to show a missile landing in the area.
It was not immediately clear which building exactly was hit, but a CNN analysis suggested it may have hit a building inside or right next to a clinic run by the Revolutionary Guards on the base. The video was released just over a week after the Pentagon released a video of a US Navy warship firing a Tomahawk at Iran on the same day the school was attacked, and a CNN analysis of satellite imagery, geolocation video and statements from US officials indicates that the US was likely involved in the deadly attack.
At a press conference on Monday, President Trump pushed back against suggestions that the United States carried out the attack, claiming that Iran also has Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, made by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, are owned only by a small group of U.S. allies who are authorized to purchase them. Even Israel, one of Washington’s closest partners, doesn’t have them, and multiple military experts confirmed to CNN that Iran doesn’t have them either.
On Sunday, President Trump told reporters that “from what I saw” the attack on the school was “perpetrated by Iran,” but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to confirm, saying the U.S. was still investigating.
Wes Bryant, a former adviser for precision warfare and civilian casualty mitigation at the Defense Department’s Civilian Protection Center, said in comments to CNN that attacking schools with weapons such as tomahawks is “an alarming departure from basic U.S. targeting doctrine and practice.”
“This tragic event demonstrates a recklessly planned and executed operation in which attention to precision and the legal and moral obligation to protect civilians clearly took a backseat,” Bryant continued.
