A United Nations-backed fact-finding mission has concluded there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes during strikes on Iran, including an attack on a school in the southern city of Minab.
The report, published Thursday, also accuses Iran's government of committing crimes against humanity against its own people. While not legally binding, the findings could be used in future proceedings before international courts.
The fact-finding mission on Iran is chaired by jurist Sara Hossain of Bangladesh and is composed of independent experts. It was established in 2022 by the Human Rights Council, the U.N.'s top human rights body, based in Geneva. The experts were expected to present their findings to the 47-member council on Monday.
The mission's findings on U.S. conduct center on two airstrikes carried out on February 28, which the team says killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.
In one strike, at least one U.S. missile hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab. Iranian state media reported that 168 people were killed in that strike, most of them children. The experts concluded that "the building of the school was the intended point of impact" and that the damage was not the result of an errant strike or collateral damage from an attack on a nearby compound belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
"Following the United States and Israeli attacks on 28 February, the mission found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects," a U.N. statement said.
The second strike involved Precision Strike Missiles that dispersed tungsten pellets over what the team described as a "clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area" in the southern city of Lamerd, also on February 28. The mission said 22 civilian men and women were killed in that strike. U.S. Central Command has denied responsibility for the Lamerd attack.
The Trump administration has not directly accepted responsibility for the school strike and has not released the findings of a Pentagon investigation into the incident. The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
On Iran's government, the mission found that killings by state security forces had occurred on a "staggering scale" and that civilians faced "gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government."
Iranian security forces were found to have carried out "violent repression" over the past two years, including firing assault rifles into crowds, beating protesters, and arresting healthcare workers. Detainees faced torture and were denied legal counsel, leaving their families uninformed of their whereabouts.
The experts also reported that the Tehran government had intensified its use of the death penalty, and said more than 70 people, including five women and three boys, remain at "imminent risk of execution."
"The report concluded that many of these gross violations amount to crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, and other inhumane acts committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians," the U.N. statement said.
The mission called on both the United States and Iran to halt all rights violations and to provide "full reparations to victims." The report was built on a victims-centered approach and based on interviews with 73 people inside and outside Iran.
