Breaking Points: Jeremy Scahill on the Iran School Strike Cover-Up

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

When we talk about war as strategy, it's easy to lose sight of the human beings underneath. Today we're discussing Jeremy Scahill's investigation into a U.S. and Israeli strike on Iran that hit a school in Minab during nuclear talks. This isn't just about missiles and cover stories. No, it's really about grief, trauma, and the moral weight of civilian slaughter. And what's striking is that Scahill has reported from war zones for more than 25 years, including Iraq and the drone wars, yet he calls this attack unlike anything he's ever covered. That's remarkable coming from someone with his experience. What exactly did he say? He said, "I do not think that in my entire life as a journalist I have ever reported on a more heinous crime than this."

According to his reporting, the school was struck by at least two Tomahawk cruise missiles. First responders rushed in to find devastation so severe that some said they were digging through the remains of children. The human details are just overwhelming.

One father described his six-year-old daughter Fatima as bright and deeply gifted, able to memorize poems after hearing them once or twice.

Teachers, parents, and doctors told Scahill that the morgue overflowed, that body parts had to be stored in coolers and even fish trucks.

And nurses stayed on duty even while their own children were among the dead. The emotional fallout still haunts survivors. Children are suffering nightmares, survivor's guilt, and even self-harm.

Building on that, Scahill also pushes back hard on the official narrative, doesn't he? Absolutely. He says the United States first tried to blame Iran, then claimed the school was embedded on a military base, but his reporting found that the IRGC had vacated the site years earlier. He calls this "a cover-up within a cover-up," arguing that the attack violated basic intelligence and targeting procedures. What about the broader policy context here? He notes that the language from both administrations, including Pete Hegseth's "maximum lethality, not tepid legality," created a climate where civilian protection was abandoned. That's chilling. How did this strike affect Iranian society? Scahill says it pierced society across political and cultural lines. For many ordinary Iranians, justice isn't an abstract courtroom concept, but the simple demand that this never happen again. So what does he think should happen next? He says the tragedy demands accountability, perhaps even a special tribunal, and warns that Congress cannot let this be brushed aside. His final point is blunt: "This should be a total scandal." And yet we're barely hearing about it. That's exactly what makes this conversation so crucial.