Senators Demand Accountability as Pentagon Admits U.S. Struck Iranian Girls’ SchoolHeadlineMar 12, 2026Link copiedOn Capitol Hill, Pentagon officials told lawmakers Wednesday that the cost of the first six days of the war against Iran exceeded $11.3 billion — a figure that does not include the costs of the massive buildup of military forces in the Mideast ahead of the strikes. Meanwhile, a preliminary assessment from the Pentagon has determined the U.S. was at fault for a missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school on February 28 that killed 168 children and 14 teachers. President Trump has repeatedly blamed Iran’s military for the bombing; on Wednesday, he told reporters he was unaware of the mounting evidence that the U.S. was responsible. Trump’s latest denial came as 46 senators — all of them Democrats or independents — signed a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding answers. They write, “[T]he United States and Israel must abide by U.S. and international law, including the law of armed conflict. There must be a swift investigation into the strikes on this school and any other potential U.S. military actions causing civilian harm, and the findings must be released to the public as soon as possible, along with any measures to pursue accountability.”
The Washington Post reports the elementary school building was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site. It’s not clear whether artificial intelligence tools were responsible for targeting it. The U.S. and Israel are relying on software developed by Palantir to select thousands of targets across Iran; the software relies partly on Anthropic’s Claude AI systems. This week, Anthropic sued the Trump administration for designating the AI company as a “supply chain risk” after Anthropic refused to allow Claude to be used for autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance.
Topics:IranPentagonDonald TrumpSenateTechnologyArtificial Intelligence