UN experts say grounds to believe US committed war crimes in Iran strikes
UN experts say grounds to believe US committed war crimes in Iran strikes. Image source, WANA via ReutersImage caption, At least 156 people, including 120 children, were killed in February's strike on the primary school in MinabByDavid GrittenPublished17 September 2026UN human rights experts say there are reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran that killed at least 177 civilians.
What happened
Image Credits : Reuters Sherwin Bryce-Pease 17 September 2026, 20:58 [SAST] United Nations investigators say there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes during its military campaign against Iran, including in a devastating strike on a primary school. The experts also found Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during a crackdown on mass anti-government protests in January. Iran has also not yet commented on the findings, but it has previously rejected allegations of systematic violations of human rights. 'What was their crime? ': BBC visits Iran school where strike killed 120 childrenPublished23 JulyExperts dispute US account of deadly Iran sports hall strike in LamerdPublished3 AprilVideo shows US missile likely used in deadly strike on Iranian town, experts sayPublished28 MarchUS missile hit military base near Iran school, video analysis showsPublished9 March"Civilians in Iran are caught between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government and the nation's deadly conflict with the United States and Israel," the fact-finding mission warned in a statement on Thursday.
In both incidents, the fact-finding mission's experts said there were "reasonable grounds to believe that the US committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects". The fact-finding mission's experts concluded that Iranian authorities had committed "many gross human rights violations" during the crackdown, and that these amounted to "the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment and other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, and other inhumane acts, committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population".
The experts said that, based on the evidence gathered – including media reports indicating that a preliminary US military inquiry found US forces responsible, and the fact that the US is the only party to the conflict that possesses Tomahawk missiles – they had reasonable grounds to believe that the strike on the school was carried out by the US. Skip to content Menu Home | US may have committed ‘war crimes’ in Iran: UN investigators Volunteers search through the rubble of the Minab school, which was damaged in a strike on February 28, in Minab, Iran, August 27, 2026.
The wider picture
But the report is also damning of Tehran, finding that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity in their violent suppression of anti-government protests. They say there are reasonable grounds to believe the US attacks amounted to war crimes. The fact-finding mission also charged Iran with human rights violations and "crimes against humanity committed. S. committed war crimes during the Iran war, lending credibility to Tehran's similar claims. The Associated Press reported that the White House has also pushed back on the report, with spokesperson Anna Kelly saying "The only party in this conflict that has committed war crimes is the Iranian regime.
A new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, external said February's missile strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd constituted indiscriminate attacks causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure. They concluded by saying there were reasonable grounds to believe that the strike was carried out by the US, citing evidence including the fact that the US is the only party to the conflict that possesses PrSM missiles.
The fact-finding mission's report noted that it was not possible to independently verify the death toll from the crackdown, but said there were strong grounds to believe that it was significantly higher than the official figure of 3,000, the majority of whom the government identified as members of the security forces or bystanders.
What has been reported
The same mission accuses Iranian authorities of crimes against humanity in their crackdown on protesters, including killings and arbitrary detention. Skip to main contentSave this storySave this storyHalf a year after Iranian drone strikes knocked out multiple Amazon data centers, the US tech company has acknowledged the permanent loss of some customer data that was hosted in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The development was first reported by Reuters and suggests that the Iranian strikes inflicted catastrophic damage on the data centers.
AWS immediately urged customers to migrate resources to other cloud regions and use remote backups to restore any “inaccessible resources. ” The cloud service also reportedly issued $150 million in customer credits following the initial Iranian strikes in March. Watch: Leaked photos reveal extensive damage at US bases in GulfWatch: Leaked photos reveal extensive damage at US bases in GulfCloseThe BBC's US partner CBS obtained photos showing widespread damage to multiple US military sites in the Middle East as a result of Iranian strikes.
The US has not acknowledged carrying out February's deadly strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd. For their latest report to the UN Human Rights Council, the mission's three independent experts investigated two of the deadliest attacks on civilians during the conflict. On 28 February, when the US and Israel launched their war against Iran, Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the southern town of Minab, killing at least 156 people, including 120 children, according to local authorities.
What happens next
The fact-finding mission's experts said the school was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval complex also attacked that day, but that the school was clearly identifiable and that no information indicated that it was used for military purposes. The US military has said it carried no strikes on Lamerd that day and disputed reports identifying the weapon used as a PrSM. Image source, WANA via ReutersImage caption, Anita Ghasemi was wounded in the strike on the sports complex in LamerdThe fact-finding mission's report also covers the Iranian authorities' violent repression of the mass protests that took place across Iran in December 2025 and January 2026.
The experts said it was an unprecedented escalation from past crackdowns, marked by the widespread use of lethal force resulting in mass killings and injuries, and extensive arrests. As the crackdown escalated, security forces attacked healthcare facilities, beating and arresting wounded demonstrators and arresting some healthcare workers, which deterred victims from seeking life-saving care, according to the experts. The experts warned that the government had since intensified its use of the death penalty against protesters, with at least 29 men executed following expedited trials on charges connected to the unrest.
The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across bbc.co.uk, sabcnews.com, cnbc.com, wired.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.