Trump goal that resulted in deadly school attack questioned as priority by military intel
One of President Donald Trump's stated objectives for the war in Iran hasn't historically been considered a priority.
The 79-year-old president told Axios in a brief phone interview Wednesday that there is "practically nothing left to target," so he believes the war with Iran would end "soon," but one of the accomplishments he cited might come as a surprise to military officials.
"Little this and that ... any time I want it to end, it will end," Trump told Axios.
Trump laid out four objectives Feb. 28 in a speech announcing the first strikes on Iran, which included destroying their missile stockpile and their capacity to build more, ensuring their terrorist proxies could no longer destabilize the region, preventing them from obtaining nuclear weapons and annihilating their navy.
But a New York Times report that broke around the same time as the Axios report stated that last goal was not considered particularly important to the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"While Mr. Trump has made targeting Iran’s navy a top priority of the war to prevent it from interfering with global commerce in the region," the Times reported, "historically it is not been a top priority of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which has focused more on Iran’s missiles and other priorities like China and North Korea."
The Times reported Wednesday morning that the Defense Intelligence Agency provided outdated data to U.S. Central Command that officers used to create target coordinates that resulted in a deadly Feb. 28 airstrike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building, which killed at least 175 people, mostly children.
"The school, in the town of Minab, is on the same block as buildings used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy, a top target of the U.S. military strikes," the Times reported. "The site of the school was originally part of the base. Officials briefed on the inquiry said the building was not always used as a school, though it is not clear precisely when the school opened on the site."
"A visual investigation by The Times showed the building housing the school had been fenced off from the military base between 2013 and 2016," the report added.