TEHRAN - An Iranian girls school that was hit by a missile attack on the first day of the war had maintained a yearslong online presence showing students and school activities, raising questions about how the United States vets strike locations, a Reuters investigation found.

The Shajareh Tayyebeh School, a building with brightly painted walls and murals, was hit on Feb. 28 during an airstrike that also hit at least six other buildings in an adjacent compound used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

More than 150 students were killed, according to Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini.

The school’s website, which carried the motto “Today I learn; tomorrow we build,” contained dozens of photographs showing girls in pink-and-white uniforms in classrooms and at play. An archived version of the site from 2025 shows the building’s colorful exterior and school activities.

Satellite imagery visible as early as 2018 also showed the distinctive painted walls, while images from the months leading up to the strike displayed playground markings consistent with a school, according to a Reuters review. The school was also listed in a local business directory.

The online footprint and imagery raise questions about how U.S. forces identify and review targets. Reuters previously reported that investigators at the U.S. Defense Department believe American forces were likely responsible for the bombing and that outdated targeting data may have been used.

In the early days of the conflict, the United States released photographs and video highlighting the use of Tomahawk missiles against targets in Iran. Media published by the U.S. Navy from Feb. 28 showed a Tomahawk launching from the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance.

On Sunday, Iran’s Mehr news agency published video showing the moment one of the buildings inside the IRGC compound was struck. Local media reported the attack occurred at about 10:45 a.m. local time.

Reuters shared the footage with five munitions experts. Four said the weapon used was likely a Tomahawk missile, while one said it could have been a glide bomb.

Joost Oliemans, a Netherlands-based conflict analyst specializing in military equipment, said the strike appeared to involve a U.S. Tomahawk missile. While several countries operate similar systems, he said neither Israel nor Iran were known to field them.

Joseph Dempsey, a military analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, also identified the weapon as a type of Tomahawk but said the possibility of a previously unknown missile could not be ruled out.

AM