Gillibrand Statement On Trump Administration Withholding Iran School Bombing Report Until After Midterms

Gillibrand Statement On Trump Administration Withholding Iran School Bombing Report Until After Midterms

Oct 15, 2026

GILLIBRAND: "Withholding This Report Until After The Election Is Not Only Disgraceful, It Is Cowardly."

Today, following reports that top Pentagon officials intend to withhold the results of the Defense Department's "all-but-complete" investigation into the U.S.' bombing of an Iranian elementary school in February - the worst civilian casualty incident caused by the U.S. military in decades - until after the midterm elections, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, released the following statement:

"Secretary Hegseth has decided that politics is more important than our national security and innocent children's lives. Withholding this report until after the election is not only disgraceful, it is cowardly. We have waited months - release the report. Congress and the American people deserve full transparency and accountability around this attack, and I will not rest until we have it. If Secretary Hegseth and this administration put as much effort into protecting civilians as they do into dodging accountability, those children might still be alive, and we wouldn't be in this reckless war with Iran."

Despite ample reporting that Pentagon investigators have found that the U.S. was at fault for the Minab school bombing, Trump administration officials have not publicly taken responsibility for the strike or the resultant civilian deaths. President Trump himself has suggested multiple times that the strike was not the U.S.' fault and has even blamed Iran. Additionally, Secretary Hegseth has spent his tenure deriding the rules of engagement and cutting DoD programs that aim to prevent harm to civilians during war, including slashing civilian harm mitigation and response staff at the U.S. combatant commands by over 90 percent.

Senator Gillibrand has repeatedly pressed the Trump administration for answers on the Minab school strike and pushed for the results of the Pentagon's investigation to be made public. Some of these actions include:

• March 12: Senator Gillibrand questions EUCOM Commander and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe ​​Gen. Alexus Grynkewich on processes involved in the Minab school bombing, including how the school may have been targeted and Secretary Hegseth's cuts to civilian harm mitigation efforts at DoD
• March 27: Senator Gillibrand, colleagues demand bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) investigation into Minab school bombing, including what systems or mechanisms DoD used during Operation Epic Fury to prevent civilian harm incidents
• April 30: Senator Gillibrand grills Secretary Hegseth over the Iran war, including civilian casualties at schools and hospitals
• May 14: Senator Gillibrand presses CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper on NYT report on 22 schools being damaged by U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran, including the Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab
• July 13: Senator Gillibrand leads her colleagues in a letter calling for the swift completion and release of the Pentagon's investigation into the Minab school strike
• July 14: Senator Gillibrand demands accountability from military leadership about the lack of transparency around the Minab school bombing and the Pentagon's failure to release its report

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