A U.S. missile strike on a school in southern Iran killed 156 people, most of them children, and the Pentagon's explanation is falling apart — devastating for Iranian families and damaging for Washington's credibility.

• The school in Minab was hit directly by at least two American Tomahawk cruise missiles on the opening morning of the February 28th war, killing 120 children and 26 teachers.
• A second wave of strikes came hours later, hitting a clinic, shops and a car wash while parents and rescuers were digging through the rubble for bodies.
• Washington first blamed Iran, then said the school sat on an active military base; permits and satellite images show the military moved off that land in 2014, and a real military site a mile away was left untouched.
• The Pentagon now appears headed for an "outdated satellite imagery" defense, which former targeting officials say could not excuse skipping the required checks before launch.
• The attack killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei the same morning and united a country that had been in the middle of anti-government protests weeks earlier.

Outlook: Iran has few legal options with the International Criminal Court under U.S. sanctions, so pressure now falls on Congress to force a real accounting — and on Tehran to rebuild deterrence instead.