Karoline Leavitt Slammed After Suggesting Reports Of Deadly Strike On Iranian Girls' School Are Just 'Propaganda'

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was criticized after she rejected reports that the U.S. struck a girls' elementary school in Iran, killing 175 people, insisting in remarks to the press pool that it's just Iranian "propaganda" that they've "fallen" for.

Iranian state media and health officials said the strike occurred early Saturday morning in Minab, in the country’s southern Hormozgan Province. Journalists from international news organizations have not been granted access to independently verify the reported death toll or the circumstances surrounding the strike.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack. Video footage circulating online appears to show black smoke rising from a damaged building decorated with murals of crayons, children and an apple.

CBS News said it was able to geolocate the video to a building in Minab that Iranian state media identified as Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School. Iran’s school week runs from Saturday to Thursday, and students were reportedly in the middle of their morning session when the strike occurred.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in remarks earlier this week the U.S. would not intentionally target a school, that "our objectives are missiles, both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them."

And Leavitt went further, insisting journalists had fallen for "propaganda" when responding to a reporter who asked if the U.S. had indeed bombed an Iranian school:

"Not that we know of. The Department of War is investigating this matter."

"And I would just tell you very strongly the United States of America does not target civilians, unlike the rogue Iranian regime that targets civilians, that kills children, that has killed thousands of their own people in the past several weeks and uses propaganda quite effectively, and unfortunately, many people in this room have fallen for that propaganda.”

"I would caution you from pointing the finger at the United States of America when it comes to targeting civilians because that's not something that these armed forces do."

You can hear what she said in the video below.

Many have condemned Leavitt's response.

Some theories circulating online have suggested that a misfired Iranian missile may have caused the strike on the school. However, The New York Times and other open-source analysts have disputed that claim, noting that a single errant missile would be unlikely to produce the kind of precise damage observed across multiple buildings at the nearby naval base.

U.S. officials say the incident remains under investigation. If it is ultimately confirmed that an American bomb struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School, a key question will be whether the strike was accidental or the result of targeting based on outdated intelligence.

Janina Dill, an expert on the laws of war at University of Oxford, said attackers are obligated to “verify the status” of their targets to ensure civilians are not harmed. Failing to do so, she said, could constitute a violation of international law.