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A newly developed U.S. missile struck civilian sites in southern Iran on Feb. 28, hitting a sports hall and a nearby elementary school close to a military compound in the city of Lamerd, according to visual evidence analyzed by The New York Times and weapons experts.
Local officials cited by Iranian media said at least 21 people were killed in the strike, which caused damage to civilian buildings and nearby residential areas.
An analysis of videos and photographs from the scene indicates that the weapon used was likely a Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), a short-range ballistic missile developed by the U.S. Army.
The missile is designed to explode above the target area and disperse small tungsten pellets, creating widespread fragmentation damage. Experts said the damage patterns seen at the sports hall, elementary school and surrounding residential areas are consistent with the known characteristics of the PrSM system.
A U.S. official also confirmed to The New York Times that the missile used in the Lamerd strike was the PrSM.
Weapons experts interviewed by the newspaper said the available visual evidence strongly supports the conclusion that the Precision Strike Missile was used in the attack.
"While we knew PrSM was fired, this is the first look we’ve gotten at the business end of the system,” Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Middlebury College, said after reviewing videos and photos of the incident.
Frederic Gras, another munitions expert, supported the assessment.
"The pattern of fragmentation damages are impressive and match with the few technical information available on the PrSM," Gras was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), told The New York Times that U.S. forces "do not indiscriminately target civilians, unlike the Iranian regime."
Regional tensions have continued to rage since Israel and the U.S. launched an offensive against Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,340 people to date, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting U.S. military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.
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