A new report from the United Nations claimed there are reasonable grounds that the United States committed war crimes after two February strikes on an Iranian school and a sports facility.
It also found reasonable grounds that Tehran had committed crimes against humanity in its violent crackdown on anti-government protests at the turn of the year.
The findings are from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran.
The report, which examines the build-up to and conduct during the Iran war, will be submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
School Strikes on War’s First Day
According to U.N. experts, U.S. forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab.
Iranian officials said 150 people were killed, including 120 schoolchildren, in the strike on the first day of the war.
The U.S. military has been ambiguous about its role in the strike on southern Iran, with officials repeatedly stating that military action is always conducted in accordance with international law.
In June, U.S. President Donald Trump said “nobody” attacked the school “on purpose,” and the Pentagon has not published any findings despite elevating an internal probe into the Minab strike, which said it was likely the responsibility of U.S. forces.
U.S. Responsible, U.N. Says
The U.N. report, published on Thursday, 17th September, said the school was “clearly identifiable” despite its proximity to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex.
Citing satellite imagery, photography and videos, there was “clear evidence that the facility was operating as a primary school before the strike,” adding: “No information indicates that the school was used for military purposes at the time.”
While citing the adjacent IRGC complex as the likely intended target, the report points the finger at outdated intelligence that led to the school being the “intended point of impact,” and claims that “the damage did not result from an errant strike or collateral damage from the attack on the adjacent IRGC compound.”
The U.N. experts said they considered the failure to update information before launching the attack as something that “went beyond mere negligence,” adding, “… the Mission finds reasonable grounds to believe that the U.S. committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects.”
Lamerd Attacks
Later the same day, an airstrike targeted a sports center in Lamerd on Iran’s southern coast. Much like Mirab, the report said there was “no information” that the site “was used for military purposes at this time.”
Detailing how a Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) was used in the strike, the findings detailed how the PrSM “is designed to detonate above its target, dispersing approximately 180,000 tungsten pellets over a wide area and producing a distinctive perforation impact.”
Concluding that the PrSMs used had a damage radius of 170 meters, the report said: “The strike on Lamerd also amounted to the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects.
The Mission concluded that the U.S., by choosing to use the PrSM missile in a populated civilian area, under the prevailing circumstances, launched an attack that struck civilians and civilian objects recklessly as to the likely extent of death or injury.”
In March, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) denied carrying out the attack in Lamerd, stating the missile used was consistent with an Iranian Hoveyzeh cruise missile.
It also denied striking the city on the opening day of the war, adding: “U.S. forces do not target civilians.”
Crimes Against Humanity
Iranian authorities were accused of crimes against humanity by the U.N. researchers through “killings by security forces [that] occurred on a staggering and unprecedented scale across all 31 provinces.”
“The violent suppression of the 2025/2026 protests went beyond a simple continuation of familiar patterns and represented a marked escalation in the use of lethal force and mass arrests,” the report added, citing one doctor who said shotgun ammunition was “specifically used to create injuries severe enough to cause death or permanent disability, instilling fear and terror among the people.”
221 children were killed, according to the findings, including six who were under 10 and two who were only two years old.
At least 29 men have been executed since March in connection with the protests, with another 70 at imminent risk of a death sentence.
“Many gross human rights violations by Iran amount 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,” researchers added.
About the Author: Shay Bottomley
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist. He has written for the Western Standard, Business Insider, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo.
