Forty-six Senate Democrats are demanding the Pentagon immediately investigate and publicly release findings on a U.S. military strike that killed at least 168 people at a girls’ elementary school in Iran on February 28.
The senators sent a letter Wednesday to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calling for “a swift investigation into the strikes on this school and any other potential U.S. military actions causing civilian harm,” with results released to the public “as soon as possible, along with any measures to pursue accountability.”
The letter arrives after the New York Times reported that an ongoing military investigation has determined the United States is responsible for a Tomahawk missile strike on the Iranian elementary school. A Department of Defense spokesperson confirmed only that “the incident is under investigation.” President Trump, speaking to reporters Wednesday as he left the White House, said he knew nothing about preliminary reports pointing to U.S. responsibility.
The senators laid out a direct challenge to the administration’s conduct of the war. “To be clear, the war against Iran is a war of choice without Congressional authorization,” they wrote. “Nonetheless, as these military actions continue, the United States and Israel must abide by U.S. and international law, including the law of armed conflict.”
The letter demands answers to a pointed list of questions. Senators want to know whether the U.S. military conducted the February 28 strike, and if so, what the intended target was and how the school was hit instead. They are also asking whether the Department of Defense complied with rules designed to prevent war crimes, whether officials established a “no-strike list” before operations in Iran began, and what broader steps the military took to protect civilian lives.
One question stands out for its implications beyond this specific strike: senators asked whether the military is using artificial intelligence tools in its operations in Iran. The inclusion of that question signals growing concern in Congress about automated targeting systems and the accountability gaps they can create when civilians are killed.
New Hampshire’s own senators, Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, signed the letter, joining a near-unified Democratic caucus. The full list of signatories spans the country, including Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin of Illinois, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, among dozens of others.
The letter represents one of the most direct congressional challenges yet to the Trump administration’s military campaign against Iran, a conflict lawmakers in both parties have criticized as lacking proper authorization under the War Powers Act. Democrats argue that regardless of the legal disputes over whether the war requires congressional approval, the rules of armed conflict apply in full.
The scale of the reported death toll makes the stakes hard to overstate. At least 168 people were killed in the February 28 strike on a girls’ school. If the military investigation confirms U.S. responsibility, the attack would rank among the deadliest incidents of civilian harm attributed to American forces in recent memory.
Hegseth has not publicly addressed the specific questions raised in the senators’ letter. The Pentagon’s brief statement confirming an investigation is underway offers no timeline, no commitment to public disclosure, and no acknowledgment of the questions surrounding targeting protocols or AI involvement.
For the Democratic senators, that silence is the problem. Their letter does not ask whether an investigation is happening. It demands the findings be made public quickly and that accountability measures follow. The distinction matters. Investigations that disappear into the bureaucracy serve no one except the institution being investigated.
The conflict in Iran has moved fast since it began, with limited public information about targeting decisions, civilian casualty assessments, or the legal frameworks guiding operations. Congress has largely been left reacting to news reports rather than receiving formal briefings. Wednesday’s letter is an attempt to force a different dynamic, one where the executive branch answers to the legislature and to the public rather than conducting a war on its own terms.
Whether Hegseth responds with substance or continues issuing minimal statements is the next test of this administration’s commitment to the accountability it has yet to demonstrate.
