On February 28th, 2026, the world was processing the most shocking turn of events. The United States had launched Operation “Epic Fury” in coordination with Israel. Maybe sometimes people forget that the people whom they want you to believe are the “enemy” are regular humans just like us. At about 10 AM Iranian Standard Time on Saturday (Saturdays are working days in Iran), Iranians started their day as usual, dropping their children off at school and heading to work. Many of those who work at the Asif Brigade Headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy sent their daughters to the nearby Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province. The school was formerly a military compound but was converted more than 10 years ago, although it is extremely close to the IRGCN Asif Brigade building.
On the first day of Operation “Epic Fury”, independent investigations from multiple news agencies and internal sources of the U.S. military confirmed that the United States launched a Tomahawk cruise missile that struck the girls’ elementary school and an adjacent sports facility. Iranian state media confirmed that 168 people were killed in the strike, the vast majority of them being school-aged girls. Satellite images from the aftermath left scorch marks on the wall, collapsed roofs, and splotches of blood everywhere.
Several media outlets and U.S. government officials expressed deep concern about the growing use of AI to gather data and intelligence for military operations, which can have severe consequences.
It is alleged that school staff and officials in Hormozgan province had prior knowledge of planned strikes in the area. Although unaware that they would directly target the school, the school staff began contacting children’s parents around 10 AM to inform them that their children needed to be picked up. Hormozgan governor Mohammad Ashouri announced that the school was struck at around 10:45 AM, meaning most parents were unable to arrive in time to evacuate their children. Many parents arrived at their children’s school to witness the most heartbreaking scenes imaginable. Many students came from villages far from the school and had no chance of arriving on time to ensure their children’s safety. In the aftermath of the strikes, the Iranian Red Crescent Society was deployed to a scene straight out of a nightmare. Bodies and severed limbs were buried under rubble, as parents wept and screamed for their children.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth initially said that the Pentagon was investigating the incident. President Donald Trump later claimed that “Iran or somebody else” (Amnesty International) was responsible for the attack. A White House spokesperson then later said that the Department of Defense was continuing investigations into the attack and would later release a full report. Yet shortly after, independent news agencies and sources inside the government would confirm that the United States was likely behind the attack. International humanitarian law requires parties to distinguish between combatants and civilians at all times. The law generally prohibits attacks on civilian infrastructure such as schools.
When evaluating the shortcomings of our own behavior, let us never forget the harm that the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to perpetrate on its own people.
After hearing about the horrifying details of this attack and the blatant disregard it had for human law, we must ask ourselves as a nation how we let this happen. But first, how did this happen? That answer is likely tied to the U.S. military’s increased reliance on artificial intelligence to collect data and execute operations. Director Brad Cooper of the U.S. Central Command confirmed that the U.S. was using Palantir’s Maven Smart System, an artificial intelligence software designed to “streamline the targeting process” (Wikipedia). These AI models had mistakenly tagged the school as either a weapons factory or an arms depot. Several media outlets and U.S. government officials expressed deep concern about the growing use of AI to gather data and intelligence for military operations, which can have severe consequences, as shown above.
We must not ignore the fact that the Iranian regime continues to exploit its people, as state media and government officials took advantage of the suffering of the strike’s victims and their families to further advance their state propaganda. Amnesty International alleges that Iranian authorities “forced some bereaved children’s families to participate in funeral ceremonies that were not in accordance with their traditions and used traumatized child survivors for state propaganda” (Amnesty International). When evaluating the shortcomings of our own behavior, let us never forget the harm that the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to perpetrate on its own people.
Using an artificial intelligence model to plan and identify key points of a target does not remove human responsibility – it obscures it.
In all of this, the point is that, with the excitement and possibilities surrounding our new age of artificial intelligence, its use in military intelligence poses challenges to the principles of international law that hold our society together. Using an artificial intelligence model to plan and identify key points of a target does not remove human responsibility – it obscures it. All this makes it difficult for us to uphold the key American values of justice and integrity as we navigate both a growing technological age and a tense geopolitical atmosphere.
Aarav Vaidya ‘28 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at a.a.vaidya@wustl.edu.