2026 House Resolution 269

Whereas, On February 28, 2026, an elementary school in southern Iran was struck by a missile, and at least 175 people, including over 100 children, were reportedly killed. Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School is located in the town of Minab, in Hormozgan Province. While the school is situated on the border of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval Forces compound, satellite imagery shows that the school has been walled off from the rest of the compound since at least 2016, and the school has a separate entrance from the street. The attack took place on a Saturday morning, at the start of the school week, while children were in class. If the reported death toll is confirmed, this would be the worst mass casualty event of the conflict so far; and

Whereas, Although the United States government has yet to admit responsibility for the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, evidence is mounting that this is the case. The preliminary findings of an ongoing investigation by the United States military reportedly indicate the United States launched the missile that struck the school. It has been widely reported that the strike utilized a Tomahawk missile, and the United States is the only party to this conflict that uses those missiles; and

Whereas, The conduct of hostilities in an international armed conflict is governed by the law of war, which includes the principles of distinction and proportionality. Distinction requires parties to an armed conflict to distinguish between combatants and other military objectives, which may be made the object of attack, and civilian persons and objects, which may not. Proportionality is implicated when the object of attack is proper, but incidental harm to civilians or civilian property may occur. Parties to a conflict have both an affirmative duty to take feasible precautions to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and civilian property and a duty not to attack military objectives when the expected incidental harm to civilians and civilian property would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage expected to be gained; and

Whereas, A serious violation of the law of war constitutes a war crime. This would include targeting civilian persons or objects, failing to take feasible precautions, or launching an attack that would cause excessive incidental harm to civilians; and

Whereas, The strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School may have constituted a war crime. If the school was struck due to reliance on outdated data labeling the building as a military target, as has been reported, this could violate the principle of distinction, as militaries have an obligation to review information about the intended targets of attacks before strikes are carried out, a duty that is enhanced when an attack is planned long in advance. The principle of proportionality may also have been violated if the military failed to take feasible precautions, such as adjusting the timing of the strike so that a target near a school was not attacked in the middle of a school day, or if the likely harm to civilians was excessive relative to the anticipated military advantage to be gained by the strike; and

Whereas, This is not the only instance of young students being harmed in the ongoing conflict. Also on February 28, 2026, Imam Reza Elementary School, in the city of Abyek, Qazvin Province, was damaged as a result of a strike on a nearby communications tower. Windows were shattered, and a student on the playground, less than 400 feet away from the tower, was reportedly killed, seemingly due to debris from the blast. A pattern of schools being damaged in the attacks on Iran may be emerging; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we call on the United States House and Senate committees on Armed Services to investigate the February 28, 2026, strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School to determine why and how this incident occurred, including an examination of alleged intelligence failings and the decision-making that went into this attack, to learn from this incident and help prevent war crimes from being committed in the future; and be it further

Resolved, That we call on United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to resign as, in his role as the appointed head of the Department of War, he bears responsibility for the actions of the Department; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the chairs of the United States House and Senate committees on Armed Services and the United States Secretary of War.