A new report from the United Nations has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes during two devastating strikes in Iran in February, killing at least 177 civilians. The findings, delivered by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, describe indiscriminate attacks on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd, both of which caused significant civilian casualties and damage to critical infrastructure. The mission’s experts also accused Iranian authorities of committing crimes against humanity during a violent crackdown on mass anti-government protests earlier this year.
UN Investigators Cite War Crimes in Attacks on Iranian School and Sports Complex
The fact-finding mission’s report focused on two of the deadliest incidents during the conflict that erupted between the US, Israel, and Iran at the end of February. On 28 February, Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the southern town of Minab, killing at least 156 people, among them 120 children. That same day, Precision Strike Missiles dispersed tungsten pellets across a sports complex and surrounding residential area in Lamerd, leaving at least 21 people dead, including seven children.
The experts determined that both sites were clearly identifiable as civilian facilities and that no information suggested they had been repurposed for military use. In the case of Minab, the school was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex that was also attacked. However, the mission concluded that the school was “the intended point of impact” and that the damage did not result from an errant strike or collateral damage. Survivors reported that the school was hit twice.
The experts cited a combination of evidence in attributing both attacks to the United States, including media reports indicating a preliminary US military inquiry found American forces responsible, and the fact that the US remains the only party to the conflict in possession of Tomahawk and PrSM missiles respectively.
One survivor in Lamerd, Anita Ghasemi, was among those wounded in the sports complex strike. Her story paints a harrowing picture of the chaos that unfolded when munitions tore through a civilian area.
Washington has pushed back against the findings. A State Department official said the US did not give credibility to the report. The Pentagon has declined to release the results of its investigation into the Minab strike, though Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has insisted the US military would “never target civilian targets.” The US military has also denied carrying out any strikes on Lamerd and disputed characterisations of the weapon used.
Tehran’s Violent Suppression of Protest
Beyond the two attacks, the fact-finding mission examined the Iranian authorities’ response to the mass demonstrations that swept across the country in December 2025 and January 2026. The experts described an unprecedented escalation from previous crackdowns, marked by the widespread deployment of lethal force, mass arrests, and systematic attacks on medical facilities.
Witnesses, healthcare workers, and victims’ families told investigators that security personnel positioned themselves on rooftops and elevated vantage points, firing assault rifles into crowds. Protesters sustained catastrophic injuries, including severe wounds to the head, chest, and eyes from metal shotgun pellets, leaving many permanently blind. As the repression intensified, security forces stormed hospitals, beating wounded demonstrators and arresting medics who attempted to treat them, effectively deterring victims from seeking life-saving care.
The tens of thousands detained during the protests reportedly faced torture, solitary confinement, and denial of legal representation. The experts warned that the government has since intensified its use of the death penalty, with at least 29 men executed following expedited trials on charges tied to the unrest.
The mission noted it was not possible to independently verify the full death toll, but said there were strong grounds to believe it was significantly higher than the official figure of 3,000, the majority of whom the government identified as security forces or bystanders. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) has confirmed the killing of more than 7,000 people, almost all of them protesters.
Washington Pushes Back as Tehran Stays Silent
Iran has not yet commented on the latest findings, though it has historically rejected allegations of systematic human rights violations. Tehran has accused the US and Israel of fomenting the unrest and blamed the deaths on what it called “terrorists” and “rioters.”
The silence from both Washington and Tehran stands in stark contrast to the gravity of the mission’s conclusions. The experts stated they had reasonable grounds to believe that the US committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in loss of life, injury to civilians, or damage to civilian objects in both incidents.
“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,” the fact-finding mission warned in a statement.
Why it Matters
These findings carry profound implications for international humanitarian law and the fragile stability of the Middle East. If upheld, they would represent some of the most serious documented allegations of war crimes involving the United States in recent years, potentially triggering accountability proceedings at the International Criminal Court and further straining diplomatic relations across the region. The dual nature of the abuses documented in the report, those committed externally by a military power and internally by a state against its own people, underscores the depth of the crisis facing Iranian civilians. As the international community weighs its response, the lives of thousands caught in the crossfire remain a stark reminder that accountability cannot come soon enough.
