UN-backed experts find US strike on Minab school amounts to war crime

In short:

An independent fact-finding mission on Iran has found "reasonable grounds" the US committed war crimes, with strikes on a school and a sports centre.

The United Nations-backed human rights experts also found Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity.

What's next?

The Trump administration has yet to directly accept the blame or release findings of a Pentagon investigation into the school bombing.

Human rights experts commissioned by the United Nations say they have found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including on a school in the southern city of Minab.

The human rights experts also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

The findings in a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, examined the US's conduct during the Iran war that began in February and the Iranian government's response to nationwide unrest that started in late December.

It said Iranian civilians were 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 Iranian and US permanent missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US officials have previously said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict, while Iran has consistently rejected allegations of systematic rights violations.

Loading...Strike on Minab school 'reckless'

The UN experts said they found reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the city of Minab, where more than 150 people were killed, including about 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials.

The attack constituted an indiscriminate attack causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, amounting to a war crime under international law, the mission concluded.

According to the report, 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.

Investigators said the failure to update targeting intelligence and confirm the building was a military objective amounted to more than mere 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."

In June, US President Donald Trump said that "nobody" purposefully attacked a girls' school in Iran in February, citing an investigation into the incident.

US media reported that an initial internal US military investigation showed US forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran.

The Pentagon has since elevated the probe but it has not published any preliminary findings.

UN experts said the school was a clearly identifiable civilian object and found no evidence that it was being used for military purposes.

The experts reached a similar conclusion over a strike on a sports centre in Lamerd.

The report said the attack damaged nearby residential buildings and a school and killed and injured 22 civilians.

It concluded that the strike was indiscriminate and therefore constituted a war crime.

US Central Command said in a statement in March that US forces did not launch any strikes into the city of Lamerd on that day.

Widespread abuses by Iranian authorities

The UN mission probe found that the Iranian authorities carried out a widespread and systematic attack against civilians during protests that erupted in late December last year, involving unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and severe restrictions on freedom of expression.

Rights groups say bystanders were among those killed during the biggest crackdown since Shi'ite Muslim clerics took power in the 1979 revolution.

Tehran blamed "terrorists and rioters" backed by exiled opponents and foreign foes the US and Israel.

The probe said it could not independently verify the death toll, but that it believed the number of dead and injured was likely far higher than official figures, which say 3,038 people were killed and 25,000 people injured.

The Iranian government's response to the protests, including violence and killings, cutting off the internet and use of the death penalty, marked a significant escalation from previous patterns of suppressing dissent, the report said.

The team also said that killings by state security forces occurred on a "staggering scale" in Iran, and alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Iranian government.

The fact-finding mission on Iran, chaired by jurist Sara Hossain of Bangladesh, is made up of independent experts and was created in 2022 by the Human Rights Council, the UN's top human rights body.

Reuters/AP