U.S. Justifies Iran Carpet Bombing by Claiming Missiles Launched from Schools, Hospitals

The U.S. Department of War said Iran has been launching missiles from locations near schools and hospitals, as U.S. strikes on Iranian targets including those facilities continue under Operation Epic Fury.

Speaking at a Pentagon briefing on March 10, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the United States was conducting its most intense day of strikes since the operation began nearly 11 days earlier. He said the attacks involved additional fighters and bombers and improved intelligence, while Iran fired the lowest number of missiles in the past 24 hours since the operation started.

Hegseth said Iranian forces were launching missiles from areas close to schools and hospitals, which he said placed civilians at risk.

“The [Iranians] are desperate and scrambling. Like the terrorist cowards they are, they fire missiles from schools and hospitals ... deliberately targeting innocents ... because they know their military is being systematically degraded and annihilated,” Hegseth said.

He also said Iranian-backed groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis were now “broken, ineffective, or on the sidelines.”

“Iran stands alone, and they are badly losing,” Hegseth said. “On day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives.”

According to the Pentagon, the U.S. operation aims to destroy Iranian missile stockpiles and launchers, target the country’s defense industrial base, dismantle the Iranian navy, and prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Dan Caine said the U.S. Central Command had struck more than 5,000 targets in Iran during the campaign. He said U.S. Strategic Command bombers had dropped dozens of 2,000-pound GPS-guided penetrating weapons on deeply buried missile launchers across the country’s southern areas.

Caine said strikes had also targeted Iranian drone factories, which he said reduced ballistic missile attacks by about 90% and drone attacks by 83%. More than 50 Iranian naval vessels were also destroyed, he added.

Last week, the U.S. Central Command had warned that schools, hosptials and other areas of population concentration could become "legitimate targets" as Iran had placed missile and drone launchers in in the midst of populated areas. 

U.S.-Israeli Strikes Damage Hospitals, Red Crescent Buildings across Iran

Among the reported strikes was a February 28 attack that hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, killing more than 160 people, most of them children. An analysis of video footage of the strike published by Iranian state media showed a missile bearing a striking resemblance to the Tomahawk, a weapon only the U.S. possesses. Another strike this week reportedly hit a school in Khomein.

Iranian Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian said the U.S.-Israeli strikes had damaged multiple schools, dozens of medical centers and residential buildings.

Several medical facilities were also reported damaged, including Gandhi Hospital (Tehran), Motahari Hospital (Tehran), Khatam Hospital (Tehran), Aboozar Children's Hospital (Ahvaz), and Khordad Hospital (Varamin), along with multiple emergency medical centres.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said its headquarters in Tehran and at least 13 of its buildings nationwide had been damaged.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified at least 13 attacks on health infrastructure in Iran since the conflict began, with four healthcare workers killed and 25 injured. About nine hospitals are no longer operational due to repeated air attacks.

Iran’s envoy to the United Nations said 32 medical and pharmaceutical facilities across the country had been affected by the strikes.