US Likely Committed War Crimes in Iran, Say UN Experts

The US likely committed war crimes when it killed at least 178 Iranians in two airstrikes in February, a UN fact-finding mission has said. 

More than 150 people, including 120 children, were killed after two Tomahawk missiles hit a primary school in Minab, southern Iran, on 28 February. On the same day, 22 civilians were killed in a strike on a sports complex in the southern city of Lamerd. 

The mission said on Thursday it believed the US had indiscriminately attacked civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure in both incidents. It said it applied a “reasonable grounds to believe” standard of proof to reach its conclusions. 

The UN experts said that while the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School was next to an Iranian military naval complex, it was “clearly identifiable” as a school.

“Photographs and videos depicting the school… included child-oriented murals painted on exterior walls, school signage, and playground areas,” they wrote.  

They concluded that “the building of the school was the intended point of impact” for two Tomahawk missiles, adding that the attack was not “an errant strike or collateral damage”. 

They added: “When targeting the school building, the US acted wilfully.” 

The US military initially denied responsibility for the attack before launching its own internal probe in March. The results of that investigation are yet to be released. US president Donald Trump said in June that “nobody” hit the school “on purpose”. 

Some families lost multiple children in the attack. 

The UN mission also concluded the US was responsible for using precision strike missiles to disperse 180,000 tungsten pellets over a sports and residential area in the city of Lamerd. As with Tomahawk missiles, the US is the only party in the ongoing war with Iran in possession of precision strike missiles. 

“The strike on Lamerd also amounted to the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack,” the mission said.

The report also accused Iran of human rights violations and crimes against humanity during its crackdown on anti-government protesters in January, citing torture and use of the death penalty.