UN mission says US strikes on Iran school constitute war crimes

A United Nations fact-finding mission said Thursday it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States was responsible for two military strikes on a school and a sports facility in Iran in February that constituted war crimes, according to a report to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.reuters+1

The same report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran also concluded that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their crackdown on anti-government protests that erupted in late December 2025.rte+1

The Strikes

The mission found that US forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the city of Minab on February 28, 2026, where more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials. The report said the US relied on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian military commander was present at the site but failed to adequately verify the information before launching the strike.reuters+1

Investigators said the failure amounted to more than negligence. "Rather, the US directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object and acting recklessly as regards the possibility that this would happen," the report stated. The mission found no evidence the school was being used for military purposes.rte+1

The mission reached a similar conclusion regarding a strike on a sports center in Lamerd that killed and injured 22 civilians and damaged nearby residential buildings. US Central Command said in March that US forces did not launch any strikes into Lamerd on that day. In June, President Donald Trump said "nobody" purposefully attacked a girls' school, citing a US military investigation into the incident.jpost+2

The Iranian and US permanent missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ↘ 5.12% requests for comment.reuters

Crimes Against Humanity in Iran

The report also found that Iranian authorities carried out a "widespread and systematic attack against civilians" during protests that began in late December 2025, involving unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and severe restrictions on freedom of expression. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said earlier this week that 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".ohchr+2

A Broader Reckoning

The report arrives as the conflict, which began on February 28, 2026, continues to exact a heavy toll on Iranian civilians. Human Rights Watch News Corp ↘ 2.07% called for the school attack to be investigated as a war crime shortly after it occurred in March, and more than 100 international law experts signed an open letter in April warning that US strikes on Iran violated international law. The AP reported Thursday that the strikes examined by the mission killed at least 178 civilians in total.apnews+2