Missile debris that Iranian officials claim was recovered from the deadly strikes which hit an elementary school in southern Iran on February 28 appears to be from an American Tomahawk cruise missile, according to CNN analysis.
Four photographs of the fragments were shared on Telegram by Iran's state broadcaster, IRIB, with the caption claiming they were remnants from the strike on the Shajareh Tayyiba school in Minab, where state media say at least 168 children and 14 teachers were killed.
It was not possible to confirm whether the fragments, pictured on a table in front of the ruined school building, were from the school strike, a strike on a neighbouring Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base or from elsewhere.
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They do however appear to be consistent with a US-made Tomahawk cruise missile, according to a CNN review and expert analysis. A Tomahawk missile was used in at least one strike on the IRGC base next to the school, according to a CNN analysis of a video which captured it hitting a building. The Pentagon classifies the missiles as precision-guided munitions. Multiple buildings at the base appear to have been struck by precision missiles.
The photographs are the latest piece in a mounting body of evidence which points to US responsibility for the strike and appears to contradict US President Donald Trump's claims around it. The president last week blamed Iran, doubling down Monday when he claimed the country had Tomahawk missiles in its arsenal, which it does not, according to experts.
On Tuesday, the White House said that the Pentagon would release its investigation into the strike on the school.
One remnant pictured is marked with "Made in USA" and the name of Ohio-based munitions manufacturer Globe Motors, a company that has received millions of dollars in Department of Defence contracts to build missile components, most recently in 2025, according to publicly available data.
Another fragment in the photos is marked "SDL ANTENNA," short for "satellite data link antenna," a component of the communications unit used in newer Tomahawk variants. The name of another company – Colorado‑based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which was acquired by the British firm BAE Systems in 2024 – is imprinted on the missile part.
The imagery is consistent with photos of Tomahawk missile parts recovered from past conflicts which were archived on weapon fragment database the Open Source Munitions Portal. This includes the component with Globe Motors branding, an example of which was recovered from a strike in Yemen last year, according to an entry in the database.
Markus Schiller, a rocket expert and associate senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, identified one of the parts in the images as a Globe Motors actuator motor and confirmed CNN's analysis that the fragment was consistent with a Tomahawk. Actuators are responsible for moving the fins of a missile, allowing it to fly and curve as it travels through the sky. He separately identified another remnant which appeared to be part of the missile's jet engine.
Former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member Trevor Ball, who works for open-source investigative group Bellingcat, also assessed that the fragments were part of a Tomahawk missile, while acknowledging that it was not possible to determine their provenance from these images alone.
On Sunday, footage emerged appearing to show an American BGM or UGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) targeting the IRGC naval base adjacent to the school. That video, posted by semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr News, was the first to show missiles striking the area, with a massive plume of smoke seen coming from the direction of the elementary school.
It was not immediately clear which exact building was struck, but an analysis by CNN suggested that it hit a building within or immediately next to a medical clinic operated by the IRGC at the base.
The video emerged just over a week after the Defence Department released videos of US Navy warships firing Tomahawks towards Iran on the same day the school was struck and following a CNN analysis of satellite imagery, geolocated videos and statements from US officials pointed to the US likely being responsible for the deadly strike.
Trump pushed back against the suggestion the US had carried out the strike in a news conference Monday, in which he claimed Iran also had Tomahawk missiles. The cruise missiles, produced by US defence contractor Raytheon, are held only by a small group of US allies authorised to purchase them. Even Israel, one of Washington's closest partners, does not possess them, and multiple munitions experts confirmed to CNN that Iran does not have them either.
On Sunday, Trump told reporters that "based on what I've seen," the strike on the school "was done by Iran," a claim Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to confirm, saying the US was still investigating.
Wes Bryant, a former adviser on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation at the Pentagon's Civilian Protection Centre, described striking a school with a weapon such as a Tomahawk as "a troubling departure from foundational US targeting doctrine and practices," in comments made to CNN.
"This tragic event is indicative of a recklessly planned and executed campaign in which attention to precision and the legal and moral obligations to protect civilians clearly took a backseat," Bryant continued.
