UN War Crimes Iran Report Accuses US and Tehran

The UN war crimes Iran report released on Sept. 17 delivered an extraordinary double indictment. Investigators with the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said they found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes in two February strikes on civilian sites, while also concluding that Iranian authorities carried out crimes against humanity during the deadly crackdown on nationwide protests. The findings, to be formally presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, examined American conduct in the Iran war that began in February and Tehran's response to unrest that started in late December, according to Reuters.

The Minab school and Lamerd sports complex strikes

The mission's war-crimes findings center on two strikes carried out on Feb. 28, the opening day of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which killed at least 178 civilians, according to the Associated Press. One involved Tomahawk missiles hitting the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, a city in southern Iran. According to the UN experts, the school building was the intended point of impact, and the damage was not the result of an errant missile or collateral damage from a nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex. Iranian officials say more than 150 people were killed in the strike, including around 120 schoolchildren. The experts concluded the attack was indiscriminate and amounted to a war crime under international law.

The second strike hit Lamerd, also in southern Iran, where the mission says Precision Strike Missiles dispersed tungsten pellets over a sports complex and the surrounding residential area, killing or injuring 22 civilians. The panel said the United States relied on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian commander was near the school in Minab but failed to verify the information before launching the strike. Directing the attack while aware of the substantial risk of hitting a civilian object, the investigators wrote, amounted to more than mere negligence and was carried out recklessly.

Washington has not accepted responsibility. In June, President Donald Trump said that "nobody" purposefully attacked a school in Iran in February, citing a military investigation. Reuters first reported that an internal US military investigation showed American forces were likely responsible for the Minab strike. The Pentagon has since elevated the probe but has not published any findings, and US Central Command said in March that US forces launched no strikes into Lamerd that day. The US State Department did not immediately respond to the Associated Press request for comment.

Iran's protest crackdown deemed crimes against humanity

The same report found that Iranian authorities carried out a widespread and systematic attack on civilians during protests that erupted in late December, involving unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and severe restrictions on free expression. The mission described killings by state security forces on a staggering scale. Iranian security forces fired assault rifles into crowds, beat protesters, arrested healthcare workers, and tortured detainees who were left without legal counsel, according to the team.

The experts said they could not independently verify the death toll but believe the dead and injured far exceed official figures of 3,038 killed and 25,000 injured. More than 70 people, including five women and three boys, remain at imminent risk of execution, the mission said. Tehran blamed "terrorists and rioters" backed by exiled opponents and foreign foes including the United States and Israel, and has consistently rejected allegations of systematic rights violations.

The conflict at the center of the UN war crimes Iran report has reshaped Middle East security policy: the United States approved a $24.3 billion sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia earlier this week as the war with Iran continues. The mission was chaired by Bangladeshi jurist Sara Hossain and built its findings on a victims-centered approach, drawing on interviews with 73 people inside and outside Iran, along with satellite imagery, photo and video material, and information from credible organizations and experts. Its work was partly impeded by the ongoing conflict, an internet shutdown, and limited cooperation: nearly three dozen requests for information from Iran's government went unanswered, as did requests sent to the US government in June.

The findings are not binding and carry no enforcement mechanism, but they add to international evidence about the war and could eventually be used in proceedings in international courts. The experts said both the United States and Iran should halt all violations and provide full reparations to victims. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly responded by saying the UN Human Rights Council had accomplished nothing for human rights, and that Iran was the only party in the conflict that had committed war crimes. Earlier this week, GenZ Newz reported on the UN rights chief's warning that the UN's human-rights treaty bodies face collapse — a separate sign of the strain on the international rights system.