UN Experts Cite Possible US War Crimes in Iran

United Nations-backed human rights experts said Thursday they have found “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including an attack that destroyed a primary school in the southern city of Minab. In the same report, the experts accused Iran’s theocratic government of carrying out crimes against humanity against its own people.

The findings, published by the U.N.-mandated Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, are not legally binding but add to a growing body of international evidence about conduct during the war that began in February 2026. The report is expected to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The report, published Thursday [September 17], draws on interviews with 73 people inside and outside Iran, along with documentation, satellite imagery, and photographic and video material reviewed with what the mission described as a “victims-centered approach.”

The School Strike in Minab

The mission’s findings on U.S. conduct center on two airstrikes carried out on 28 February 2026, according to NPR. The first involved Tomahawk missiles that struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, in Hormozgan province, a building the mission said was “clearly identifiable” as a civilian object.

The experts concluded that “the building of the school was the intended point of impact” and that the damage was not the result of an errant strike or collateral damage from an attack on an adjacent compound of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

“Following the United States and Israeli attacks on 28 February, the mission found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” a U.N. statement on the team’s findings said.

Casualty figures have varied. Iranian state media said 168 people were killed in the strike, most of them children. Iranian officials said more than 150 died, including about 120 schoolchildren, while other accounts cited 156 civilians killed, including 120 children. Across both strikes, the mission said at least 178 civilians were killed, including women and children.

According to the report, the United States relied on intelligence indicating that a senior Iranian military commander was present but failed to adequately verify it. The mission concluded the U.S. “directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object and acting recklessly,” conduct it said went “beyond mere negligence.” The mission found no evidence that the school was being used for military purposes.

The Lamerd Strike and a US Denial

The second strike the mission examined hit what it described as a “clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area” in the southern city of Lamerd, also on 28 February. Precision Strike Missiles dispersed tungsten pellets over the area, damaging nearby residential buildings and a school and killing and injuring 22 civilians, the report said.

U.S. Central Command has denied responsibility for the Lamerd strike, stating in March 2026 that U.S. forces did not launch any strikes into the city that day. The discrepancy between the mission’s attribution and the U.S. denial remains unresolved.

The Pentagon has not released the findings of its own investigation into the school bombing, which reports indicate concluded several months ago and pointed toward U.S. forces being likely responsible. In June 2026, President Donald Trump said “nobody” had purposely attacked a girls’ school in Iran, citing an investigation. Reporting has suggested senior U.S. commanders had been warned that targeting data used during the war, including for Minab, was dangerously outdated.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, and the U.S. and Iranian permanent missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to Reuters.

Iran Accused of Crimes Against Humanity

The same mission concluded that Iranian security forces committed crimes against humanity during their crackdown on nationwide protests that began in late December 2025 over economic conditions and the cost of living.

The experts found that killings by state security forces occurred on a “staggering scale,” and that 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.”

Iranian security forces carried out “violent repression” by firing assault rifles into crowds, beating protesters and arresting healthcare workers, among other abuses, the team said. Detainees faced torture and were deprived of legal counsel, leaving families “in the dark” about their whereabouts.

The mission could not independently verify the protest death toll but believed it was far higher than the official Iranian figures of 3,038 killed and 25,000 injured. It also said more than 70 people — including five women and three boys — remained at “imminent risk of execution.”

“The report concluded that many of these gross violations amount to crimes against humanity — including murder, imprisonment, torture, and other inhumane acts committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians,” the U.N. statement said.

The experts called on both the United States and Iran to halt all rights violations and crimes and to provide “full reparations to victims.”

A Non-Binding Finding With Real Weight

The mission’s conclusions are the findings of a U.N. fact-finding body, not judicial rulings. The mission cannot issue convictions or impose penalties. But such reports are often used to build the evidentiary record that international courts, including the International Criminal Court, or national prosecutors invoking universal jurisdiction may later draw upon.

The report lands amid sustained international scrutiny of the war. On 8 September 2026, Amnesty International demanded formal investigations into three U.S. and Israeli attacks on Tehran suburbs that the group said killed at least 41 civilians. The conflict itself is ongoing, with continued military exchanges and disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.

The mission also faced obstacles in gathering information. Nearly three dozen requests to Iran’s government went unanswered, as did requests made in June to the U.S. government for information and meetings with officials. An internet shutdown and the displacement of civilians inside Iran further impeded the team’s work.

Domestically, debate over the war continues. On 16 September 2026, the U.S. House voted for a third time to curb the Iran war, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in support.

What to Watch

The central question now is what the U.N. Human Rights Council will do with the report when it is presented. Member states could press for a resolution that refers the matter to the International Criminal Court, though jurisdictional and immunity hurdles would remain substantial.

Equally uncertain is whether the Trump administration will release its own Pentagon findings or accept responsibility for the school strike. The gap between the U.S. denial on the Lamerd strike and the mission’s attribution may only be resolved through independent evidence that neither government has yet produced.

For the civilians caught in the middle, the report’s call for reparations serves as a reminder that the legal reckoning — if it comes at all — is likely to be slow.