Pentagon to delay release of Minab school strike report, US strikes killed over 150, outlet says

The Straits Times reports that U.S. air strikes on Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab killed more than 150 people, including at least 123 children. That outlet says the Pentagon intends to delay publishing its final investigation of the attack until after the November midterm elections.

The story cites a Bloomberg News investigation saying Pentagon investigators found flawed intelligence, outdated imagery and an over-reliance on artificial intelligence contributed to the strike.

The Straits Times says the Pentagon's formal probe into the Minab attack opened in March and that officials have considered the report largely complete for several months, but a Pentagon official told reporters the investigation remains open and there are "no updates to announce at this time." The outlet links the planned holdback on publication to the timing of the U.S. elections, reporting that disclosure would be pushed beyond the midterms.

The Straits Times quotes Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as citing Bloomberg’s reporting on Oct 15 and calling delays in the report "disgraceful" in a news release.

The article also notes a legislative route for oversight: the House Armed Services Committee defence policy bill for the fiscal year that began Oct 1 contains a provision that would require the Pentagon to submit the final report to the panel no later than 30 days after the report’s completion.

The Straits Times records broader congressional pressure: more than 70 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter on Oct 8 to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth asking for answers about civilian casualties in Iran, including at the Minab school, and the outlet says those demands form part of the background to scrutiny of the Pentagon’s handling of the probe.

The article also reports CENTCOM commentary that speaks to institutional focus on reducing civilian harm: Admiral Brad Cooper previously told Congress the command is concentrating on civilian harm mitigation, and Captain Tim Hawkins described CENTCOM’s periodic convening of experts to discuss procedures and best practices for minimising civilian harm.

The Straits Times frames the announced delay as raising questions about government transparency, military accountability and public access to information on civilian casualties, and it attributes the investigative finding about flawed intelligence and over-reliance on AI to the Bloomberg News investigation cited within its reporting.