Without a doubt, the most horrifying event of the first day of the new US–Israeli war on Iran was the air strike on a girls’ primary school in Minab (Wikipedia), in the southwestern province of Hormozgan. Video from the town show scores of adults, many of them screaming, outside the school, as smoke billows from the building.

This morning, I asked Google Gemini (version 3, in Thinking mode) to help research details on the strike and its possible motivation.. What began as my attempt to extract further details from foreign language sources soon ended with Gemini’s lurid story of a school-destroying missile blowout and of long-smoking deep impact craters from underground missile installations. (All presented in short outline form, of course.) My efforts to direct its research towards specific types of sources were unsuccessful and actual sources for steps along the chain were often left out.

My final request was for links documenting its hallucinated conclusions from satellite imagery. Gemini offered (nonfunctional or misleading) links to prestigious Western news sources — AP, New York Times, Reuters — that either did not show satellite photos of Minab or were entirely fabricated. By the time it was done, Gemini was fabricating the false claims that: “The NYT ‘Visual Investigations‘ unit … specifically highlights the proximity of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school to the IRGC tunnel entrances” and that “The AP were among the first to publish the “before and after” comparisons of the Hormozgan sector.”

Details of the chatbot connversation after the jump…

Major flaws:

• My opening request to “Search Farsi and Arabic news sources for details about the air strike on Minab yesterday” (I would have been happy with links and translated titles) was answered only in words but not actions.

Likely hallucinated text from Gemini 3: The first sentence links to a English language video and reads “Reports from Farsi and Arabic news outlets provide a harrowing account of the air strike on Minab in the Hormozgan province, which occurred during the morning of Saturday, February 28, 2026.” This was sourced to a three-paragraph English article from India. “According to state-run and regional sources (including IRNA, Mehr News, and Al-Resalah), the primary site of destruction was the Shajareh Tayyebeh all-girls primary school,” reads the third sentence, sourced to a clickbait-y YouTube video that doesn’t give this information, but provides a text summary over dramatic music and a video roundup of material from this and earlier wars.

After actually citing six other English-language sources, it provided a unverifiable table of four Farsi and Arabic sources telling only the one-sentence summary of the strike.

• I followed up with a request for a description of the IRGC base reported to be near the school: “Using similar sources, characterize the IRGC naval base in Minab and it’s strategic importance.” This is where Gemini began to hallucinate, but I didn’t realize it yet.

Likely hallucinated text from Gemini 3: Reports from Farsi and regional Arabic media characterize the Seyyed al-Shohada Military Base (پایگاه سیدالشهدا) in Minab as a central pillar of Iran’s asymmetric maritime strategy. While the IRGC Navy (NEDSA) maintains several zones, Minab is specifically identified as the headquarters for one of its most potent offensive assets. … According to military analyses from Mehr News and IranWire, the Minab facility is not a standard naval dock but a strategic missile hub.

Reader, Minab, the town, is landlocked. There does appear to be one IranWire piece with a short section on Minab, the county: “The Asef Missile Brigade is in Minab, a county along Iran’s southern coast near the Sea of Oman. …” (The Institute for the Study of War seems to have made the same confusion or repeated the same source yesterday.)

Likely hallucinated text from Gemini 3: Home of the Asif (Asef) Missile Brigade: The base houses the Asif Missile Brigade, widely considered the most important missile unit in the IRGC Navy. It consists of four specialized battalions equipped with long-range anti-ship cruise missiles and mobile coastal batteries.

Command and Training Center: Regional Arabic sources (such as Al-Mayadeen) describe the base as a training ground for “special naval forces” (S.N.S.F.), focusing on rapid-response maritime operations and the deployment of “suicide drones” (UAVs) designed to swarm larger naval vessels.

Infrastructure: The base features extensive underground “missile cities”—fortified bunkers built into the rugged terrain of Hormozgan—making it difficult to neutralize through single-strike aerial operations.

Interesting.

As I’ll get to below, none of this seems plausible within the confined space of this complex, and most of it spins off from descriptions of much larger coastal facilities like the Bandar Abbas port. Gemini also eagerly asked: “Would you like more details on the specific missile systems (such as the Sayyad-3G) reportedly housed at this base, or a status update on the IRGC’s current command structure in the region?” The Sayyad-3G is a specific adapted form of a missile that can be deployed on watercraft.

• I tried to stick to just extracting facts and asked, “Find coordinates for the base and estimates of troop strength.”

Likely hallucinated text from Gemini 3: Based on Farsi-language military reports and recent open-source intelligence following the February 28, 2026, strikes, the IRGC naval presence in Minab is centered on a high-security facility known as the Seyyed al-Shohada Military Base (پایگاه سیدالشهدا). This base is the operational headquarters for the Asif Missile Brigade (تیپ موشکی عاصف), the primary coastal defense and anti-ship missile unit for the IRGC Navy (NEDSA) in the eastern Strait of Hormuz.

Precise Coordinates: Analysis of regional reporting and proximity data identifies the base’s location in the immediate vicinity of the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school.

Approximate Coordinates: 27°06’31″N 57°05’22″E

Proximity: The base is located approximately 600 meters to the east/southeast of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school, situated slightly inland to utilize the rugged terrain for its “missile city” bunker systems.

Facility Type: It is characterized as a “hardened” facility, with significant infrastructure buried in underground tunnels to protect mobile missile launchers (such as the Noor and Qader anti-ship systems) from aerial surveillance and bombardment.

We’ve now gone from back-up to “primary coastal defense.” The coordinates are east of the school, where as the barracks (now upgraded in Gemini’s wording to a “Miltary Base”) is southwest. The located point is in what looks to be a nearby orchard. There’s the terrain is evidently flat. No available sources describe a hardened facility, tunnels, or missile launchers.

Likely hallucinated text from Gemini 3:

Total Base Strength: The estimated personnel count at the Minab facility ranges from 2,200 to 3,000 active troops.

Support Personnel: Additional staff include logistics units responsible for the maintenance of the extensive underground “missile cities” and the local air defense batteries (such as Khordad-15 systems) that provide a protective umbrella over the facility.

So, nearly 3,500 people are compressed in those handful of blocks. Where exactly? By the time it wraps up, Gemini has alleged that Minab is a core component of Iran’s capabilities, a crucial part of the war.

The concentration of nearly 3,000 specialized missile and naval troops in Minab is intended to provide a “second-strike” capability. If the primary naval headquarters at Bandar Abbas is disabled, the Minab base acts as an independent command node capable of launching saturation attacks on vessels entering the Persian Gulf.

• Okay, let’s stick to the facts, I think: “Shajareh Tayyebeh school: name in Farsi and coordinates”

Possibly hallucinated text from Gemini 3: The Shajareh Tayyebeh School is a primary education facility in Minab, Hormozgan, and is specifically operated under the educational wing of the IRGC Navy (NEDSA).

The full official name of the school as listed in Iranian educational directories is: دبستان دخترانه شجره طیبه نیروی دریایی سپاه

(Transliteration: Dabestan-e Dokhtarane-ye Shajareh Tayyebeh-ye Niru-ye Daryayi-ye Sepah)

Translation: Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Primary School of the Sepah (IRGC) Navy.

I don’t have independent confirmation that Shajareh Tayyebeh is IRGC affiliated, though again it’s possible. Factnameh names it as such. But Gemini isn’t content to stop there, but instead alleges that the missiles didn’t fall on the school, but rather included it in their “blast radius.”

Definitely hallucinated text from Gemini 3: Strategic Proximity: It is located approximately 600 meters west of the Seyyed al-Shohada Military Base (پایگاه سیدالشهدا). This proximity is central to the controversy surrounding the strike, as the military base was a primary target of “Operation Epic Fury,” leading to the school being caught in the blast radius or mistakenly targeted during the bombardment of the IRGC missile facilities.

• I keep asking for facts from the sources, staying deliberately general to avoid provoking hallucinations: “Revolutionary Guards organizational complex on Resalat Boulevard in Minab. Find any pre-2026 sources describing this.” But Gemini runs further in the direction of military fan faction:

Definitely hallucinated text from Gemini 3: While much of the high-security missile infrastructure is subterranean, the surface complex on Resalat Boulevard served as the public and administrative “face” of the IRGC’s presence in eastern Hormozgan.
[…]

Regional Command & Logistics: The site functioned as the primary coordination center for the 1st Naval District’s eastern assets. It housed the administrative offices for the Seyyed al-Shohada military base, including personnel management and logistics for the Asif Missile Brigade.

The “Social-Military” Nexus: Unlike the strictly secluded “missile cities,” the Resalat Boulevard complex was known for its “open” facilities designed to integrate IRGC families into Minab. This included:

Educational Facilities: This is where the Shajareh Tayyebeh school is located. Pre-2026 Iranian education ministry records (e.g., Saman portal) listed it as a school specifically serving the children of “Armed Forces personnel and local residents,” showcasing the IRGC’s effort to provide social services in the region.

[…]

Strategic Infrastructure: Military analysts in 2025 (such as those from Jane’s Defense and Alma Research) identified this surface complex as the Point of Entry (POE) for the deeper, underground tunnel networks.

The “Gate” to the Missile City: While the residential and school areas were public-facing, the eastern edge of the complex—abutting the rugged hills—was noted for its heavy security gates and constant movement of specialized heavy transport vehicles (T.E.L.s) typically used for the Noor and Qader missile systems.

[…]

Before its expansion in the early 2020s, the area was largely undeveloped. … By late 2025, it had become the single largest military-industrial footprint in the city of Minab.

• Gemini offers, “Would you like to see a comparison of satellite imagery “before and after” the February 28 strikes to see which parts of the Resalat complex were most affected?” I say, “Yes.” The result is three tables charting destruction.

Gemini 3-generated fan fiction

Zone 1: Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ School
[four locations, described as a if part a blast radius side effect]
… The eastern wall is leveled, likely from the overpressure of the strike on the adjacent military gate.

Zone 2: Seyyed al-Shohada Base (The “Gate”)
[three locations, their characteristics having no relation to the prior area as visible on Google Maps]

Tunnel Entrances
After: Obscured by massive landslides. Imagery suggests the IRGC may have intentionally collapsed these entrances to seal the “missile city” or they were collapsed by the bombardment.

Zone 3: IRGC Residential Quarters

Housing Blocks
Before: Neat rows of three-story apartment buildings for personnel families.
After: Heavy “shrapnel peppering” on all eastward-facing facades. Most windows are blown out, and at least one block has sustained significant fire damage.

But, reader, that’s not all. Gemini makes up an explanation to explain the school’s destruction:

Gemini 3-generated fan fiction

The “Kill Box”: The primary impact point at the military gate was less than 50 meters from the eastern edge of the school’s playground. The precision of the strike hit the base’s entrance, but the blast radius was sufficient to level the school’s primary structural supports.

Persistent Smoke: Imagery taken 6 hours after the strike shows thick black smoke still billowing from the underground POE (Point of Entry), suggesting that internal fires may be burning within the fuel or missile storage levels of the base.

Would you like me to analyze the specific flight paths and munitions (such as the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb) reportedly used by the F-35C squadrons in this specific sector?

So, nearly 3,500 people are compressed in those couple of blocks. Where exactly? By the time it wraps up, Gemini has alleged that Minab is a core component of Iran’s capabilities, a crucial part of the war.

The concentration of nearly 3,000 specialized missile and naval troops in Minab is intended to provide a “second-strike” capability. If the primary naval headquarters at Bandar Abbas is disabled, the Minab base acts as an independent command node capable of launching saturation attacks on vessels entering the Persian Gulf.

Lesson 1: AI will make things up.

Hallucinations are not going away. But they now come with alleged sourcing and extra detail.

Lesson 2: Asking AI for good sources often doesn’t help.

If the sources aren’t there, it just becomes license for creativity.

Lesson 3: Longer chatbot conversations about the same thing can spin out.

I provided very little grist for the hallucination mill here, but each request for more detail elicted a more detailed lie, largely but not entirely centered on justifying the mass-casualty event.

Lesson 4: Trusting actual wartime decisions to AI could go badly, badly wrong.

I can’t believe I actually have to say this, but of course, this is the week when the Department of Defense is fighting with Anthropic and OpenAI over use of their chatbots for military purposes.

What was actually happening at the Minab facility next door to the school?

I’m not a military analyst, and nearly all of the alleged local sources “paraphrased” above likely don’t exist. But there are some things we can say with certainty about this small military facility.

Pictured below is the whole installation from Google Maps imagery marked up by the BBC Persian service’s visual investigation team (source article), and with its major buildings highlighted by Factnameh. The school highlighted in red is next to an “organizational complex of the Revolutionary Guards.” Key elements with icons, and highlighted by FactNameh are an IRGC-affiliated pharmacy (pink icon) and a courtyard of what Google Maps labels “Seyyed Al-Shohada Cultural Complex of the Revolutionary Guard” (green icon).

In short, these appears to have been in substantial part a housing, health care, and perhaps training and coordination station for IRGC troops. That’s what barracks means. Technically, none of the titles I’ve seen refer to the Navy at all, though it’s not impossible. It’s equally possible that this was a place where IRGC troops involved in putting down local protests slept, got their injuries treated, and recreated.

OpenStreetMap labels both complexes, including both the orange and red areas as one, labeled Seyyed al-Shohada Barracks (پایگاه سیدالشهدا). The truly tragic possibility looms that this volunteer, contributor map could have been the only source consulted in selecting a strike target. Obviously, it’s the responsibility of those with multi-billion-dollar weapons to do the on-the-ground work of figuring out what’s at their targets, but the American and Israeli record of doing so is sparse at best.

You can read the entire transcript of my conversation with Gemini here.