From PBS NewsHour.
Despite video footage and imagery that suggests a U.S. Tomahawk missile struck a girls’ school next to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps complex in a southern Iranian province, President Donald Trump posited Monday that Iran was responsible.
U.S. defense contractor Raytheon makes the Tomahawk missile and sells it to American allies. There is no evidence that Iran has acquired a Tomahawk missile.
“The Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is sold and used by other countries,” Trump told reporters at a news conference in Florida. “Whether it’s Iran, who also has some Tomahawks – they wish they had more – but whether it’s Iran or somebody else, … a Tomahawk is very generic.”
A New York Times reporter followed up: “You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school on the first day of the war. But you’re the only person in your government saying this; even your defense secretary wouldn’t say that when he was asked, standing over your shoulder on your plane on Saturday. Why are you the only person saying this?”
Trump responded that “I just don’t know enough about it,” and noted that the Pentagon is investigating the strike.
“Whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report,” the president said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that the president “has a right to share his opinions with the American public” and reiterated that the president will accept the conclusion of the Pentagon’s investigation.
The Feb. 28 strike on the school reportedly killed at least 175 people, including children.
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