{"id":349,"date":"2026-05-14T22:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349"},"modified":"2026-05-14T22:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:04:58","slug":"a-top-us-commander-dismisses-reports-of-civilian-deaths-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349","title":{"rendered":"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>WASHINGTON \u2014 The senior Pentagon officer overseeing combat operations in Iran told the Senate on Thursday that the destruction of an Iranian school, which Iranian officials said killed 175 people, may have been caused by a US bomb and was the only civilian casualty incident that he was aware of in a campaign of more than 13,600 strikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=348\">In new lawsuit, Justice Department challenges efforts to sanction Trump administration lawyers<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Admiral Brad Cooper\u2019s testimony suggested that he believed that the US military\u2019s record since that Feb. 28 strike had been near perfect, a fact belied by investigations from human rights groups and news media organizations. Senators greeted Cooper\u2019s claims with deep skepticism, and a human rights group that investigates civilian casualties in war called it \u201cridiculous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The US military still has not taken responsibility for the school strike, which Cooper, the head of US Central Command, said remained under investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>The New York Times has verified damage to 22 schools and 17 healthcare facilities. The Iranian Red Crescent Society, the country\u2019s primary humanitarian relief organization, said April 2 that at least 763 schools and 316 healthcare facilities had been damaged or destroyed in the war.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>At least 1,700 Iranian civilians have been killed in the war, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHow do you explain the publicly available information that 22 schools have been hit and multiple hospitals?\u201d asked Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, citing the New York Times report.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere\u2019s no way we can corroborate that,\u201d Cooper replied. \u201cNo indication of that whatsoever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In his testimony, Cooper described the prevention of civilian deaths on the battlefield as \u201ca matter that I\u2019m passionate about.\u201d But he also conceded that his staff had not investigated any of the incidents documented by the Times or human rights groups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe idea that they only are looking into one is pretty ridiculous,\u201d said Emily Tripp, the executive director of Airwars, a British nonprofit that investigates civilian deaths in war.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Airwars has recorded at least 300 civilian casualty events in Iran, many of which resulted from large bombs being dropped on heavily populated areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhy are they not looking into any of those?\u201d Tripp asked. \u201cWe know they have the team and the infrastructure to do so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said other preliminary reviews of suspected civilian casualty incidents would occur, but he did not specify which incidents would be covered or when they might be initiated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=346\">Justice Department accuses Yale medical school of illegally using race in admissions<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has terminated dozens of positions across the Pentagon and the major US combatant commands that focus on preventing and responding to incidents of civilian death caused by the US military. Most of these positions worked under the umbrella of the Pentagon\u2019s Civilian Harm Mitigation Response office, which was created by Lloyd Austin, Hegseth\u2019s predecessor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Cooper said that the team focused on civilian casualties at US Central Command had shrunk from 10 officers to just one over the course of the last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Most of those officers were reassigned to new positions within the command and continue to play a role in preventing civilian deaths, he said. But it was unclear from Cooper\u2019s testimony what role they were playing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Some investigations, previously led by the team at US Central Command, have been off-loaded to a small skeleton staff working out of the Pentagon, military officials said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Cooper told the lawmakers that his staff had been proactive in trying to prevent civilian deaths. \u201cOur staff specifically warned the Iranian people more than 100 times about the threat of them being used as human shields,\u201d he said. \u201cI personally warned the Iranian people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And he pledged to be transparent and release the results of the command\u2019s investigation into the Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school. In early March, a continuing investigation determined that the errant strike was the result of a targeting mistake by the US military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Officials have described those findings as preliminary. It\u2019s unclear why, more than two months after the strike, military officials have not released any formal statements regarding the apparent mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt was frankly pretty clear from the very beginning that we were probably responsible,\u201d William H. McRaven, a retired admiral and former commander of US Special Operations Command, told ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d on Sunday. \u201cIt seems to be taking longer than I would think. But again, not being in the inner circle, I can\u2019t tell you whether this is too long or not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, pressed Cooper on Thursday to reassign the officers removed from the Civilian Harm Mitigation Response office back to their previous jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf you were to find out that there was an error in the targeting process, would you reinstate some of those people that were removed from that team?\u201d Kelly asked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Cooper was noncommittal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSir, it\u2019s a hypothetical,\u201d he replied. \u201cWe\u2019ll just see what the investigation says.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=344\">\u2018Everything\u2019 is what Jared Wilson likes about switching from left guard to center in his second season with the Patriots<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 The senior Pentagon officer overseeing combat operations in Iran told the Senate on Thursday that the destruction of an Iranian school, which Iranian officials said killed 175 people, may have been caused by a US bomb and was the only civilian casualty incident that he was aware of in a campaign of more than 13,600 strikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON \u2014 The senior Pentagon officer overseeing combat operations in Iran told the Senate on Thursday that the destruction of an Iranian school, which Iranian officials said killed 175 people, may have been caused by a US bomb and was the only civilian casualty incident that he was aware of in a campaign of more than 13,600 strikes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T22:04:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"headline\":\"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T22:04:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349\"},\"wordCount\":920,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349\",\"name\":\"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran - Boston Relocation Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T22:04:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=349#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Boston Relocation Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran - Boston Relocation Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran - Boston Relocation Insider","og_description":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The senior Pentagon officer overseeing combat operations in Iran told the Senate on Thursday that the destruction of an Iranian school, which Iranian officials said killed 175 people, may have been caused by a US bomb and was the only civilian casualty incident that he was aware of in a campaign of more than 13,600 strikes.","og_url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349","og_site_name":"Boston Relocation Insider","article_published_time":"2026-05-14T22:04:58+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"headline":"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran","datePublished":"2026-05-14T22:04:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349"},"wordCount":920,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349","name":"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran - Boston Relocation Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif","datePublished":"2026-05-14T22:04:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/68c494351c4e92cf872f582fdca8db48.avif","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=349#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A top US commander dismisses reports of civilian deaths in Iran"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/","name":"Boston Relocation Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}