By Lawrence Purdy, USNA ’68
United States Senator Chris Van Hollen’s suggestion – without offering any proof — that our military commanders may have been guilty of committing a “war crime” in Iran is beneath contempt.
BACKGROUND: On February 28, during the opening hours of the joint Israeli-U.S. attack on Iran, a missile – allegedly a “Tomahawk” of the type routinely launched by U.S. Navy submarines or surface ships – struck a school in southern Iran. The strike reportedly killed more than 170 people – most of them schoolgirls. (1)
The school, Shajareh Tayyebeh, is in the city of Minab, near a base belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Minab is in Iran’s strategic Hormozgan province, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz and hosts several IRGC naval facilities.
The missile attack reportedly occurred at approximately 10:45am local time (07:15 GMT), characterized by the Iranians as a peak hour for classroom activity. The blast allegedly destroyed the two-story building, causing the roof to collapse on students and teachers inside. (2)
On Monday, March 23, 2026, while appearing on CNN’s “The Arena,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) strongly intimated the February 28 bombing may have been a “war crime.”
His comment was not only inexcusably careless, but in Van Hollen’s specific case, it was particularly outrageous for several reasons:
First and foremost, as both a United States Senator and a member of the United States Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors, he, of all people, should be thoroughly familiar with what constitutes a “war crime.” Definitions are not hard to find.
For example, a UN publication states that “[w]ar crimes include . . . intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, . . . and educational buildings . . .” (My emphasis.)
What makes Van Hollen’s comment especially egregious is the fact that he offered no evidence whatsoever that the U.S. deliberately targeted what tragically turned out to be a girls’ school. (3)
Notwithstanding the lack of any factual support for his claim, Van Hollen proceeded to slander our entire military chain of command beginning with his favorite target, the Commander-in-Chief, President Trump.
Simply put, Van Hollen implies – again emphasizing, without proof — that our military (and our Naval) personnel under the direction of our Commander-in-Chief and our Secretary of War) may have intentionally targeted innocent civilians.
No honorable Naval officer believes that. Nor, absent ironclad evidence to the contrary, should any honorable elected U.S. official believe, much less publicly make, such an assertion.
That Van Hollen chose to speculate otherwise is beyond troubling. (4)
Absent a thorough investigation of the incident, there is no currently available evidence suggesting his horrific allegation against our military is true.
Whatever a full investigation may eventually disclose — undertaken for the purpose of determining what may have led to this apparent tragedy (e.g., an intelligence failure which even Aljazeera acknowledges (5) ) — it goes without saying that every Naval Academy midshipman and all Naval Academy graduates expect the truth to eventually come out.
In the meantime, Van Hollen owes our military an apology.
Footnotes:
1 See article by Elizabeth Melinopoulos (12 March 2026). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/12/who-bombed-the-iranian-girls-school-killing-more-than-170-what-we-know
2 Id.
3 Depending upon the specific circumstances dealing with the highly subjective “principle of proportionality under international humanitarian law,” the inadvertent destruction of a civilian structure that results in the loss of innocent civilian lives can arguably be considered a war crime. This “principle” prohibits excessive civilian harm in relation to the military advantage gained. However, each situation must be assessed individually to determine legality. I am unaware of any example of a “war crime” being established based on an inadvertent, albeit tragic, destruction of a structure with loss of innocent lives similar to what occurred in Minab, Iran. See, e.g., https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/proportionality/. Also see comment in endnote 5 about the school’s close proximity to buildings being used by the IRGC’s navy.
4 For an excellent summary of why Van Hollen’s comments deserve condemnation, see Fred Stuvek, Jr.’s 26 March 2026 open letter to Sen. Van Hollen.
5 See end note 1, above: “Analysts say the strike may have been caused by outdated targeting information, as the school is on the same block as buildings used by the IRGC’s navy and the site of the school was originally part of the base.”
pic.twitter.com/UptfdjL0tB Senator Chris Van Hollen w/Kasie: if President Trump goes through with the threat of bombing Iran’s power grid, it would constitute a “war crime,” and he would need to be “held accountable in international tribunals.”
— Lavy (@Lavy02) March 24, 2026
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