Iran Guards say targeted U.S. base in UAE over school strike in Minab

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday (March 6, 2026) they had targeted a U.S. base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for a strike on a school.

According to Iranian authorities, a strike had hit a girls’ elementary school on Saturday (March 1, 2026) in Minab county in the south of the country, killing more than 150 people including students.

AFP has neither been able to access the site in order to verify the incident, or to obtain independent confirmation of a toll.

“Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state TV.

Neither Israel nor the United States has claimed responsibility for the reported attack.

The Pentagon has confirmed it is investigating, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the U.S. would “not deliberately target a school.”

The New York Times newspaper reported on Thursday (March 5, 2026) that U.S. military statements indicating forces were attacking naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz, where a Revolutionary Guards’ base is located, “suggest they were most likely to have carried out the strike”.

An analysis of social media posts from the time of the attack, as well as photos and videos from witnesses, indicated that the school had been struck at the same time as Guards’ naval base sites, the Times said.