UN Mission Finds Grounds to Believe US Committed War Crimes in Iran Strikes

An independent fact-finding mission backed by the United Nations said on Thursday that it has found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes during its February war with Iran, while simultaneously accusing Tehran's government of crimes against humanity against its own citizens.

What The Report Found On US Strikes

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, chaired by Bangladeshi jurist Sara Hossain and set up by the UN Human Rights Council in 2022, examined two US strikes carried out on February 28, at the start of the brief but intense US-Israeli war against Iran. The mission concluded that a strike involving Tomahawk missiles hit a girls' school, the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in the southern city of Minab, and found the school building was the intended target rather than collateral damage from a nearby military compound. Iranian state media has said roughly 168 people, mostly children, died in that strike. A second strike, using precision munitions that dispersed tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in the city of Lamerd, reportedly killed 22 civilians; the US military's Central Command has denied responsibility for that incident. Taken together, investigators said the two strikes killed at least 178 civilians and amounted to indiscriminate attacks under international law. The US State Department had not issued a response to the findings at the time the report was released, and the Trump administration has not made public the results of an internal Pentagon review into the school strike.

Accusations Against Iran's Government

The same report was sharply critical of Iran's own conduct, saying state security forces carried out killings on a staggering scale across all 31 of the country's provinces during a crackdown on anti-government protests, with the highest tolls in Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan and Rasht. Investigators documented beatings, arrests of healthcare workers, torture of detainees and a pattern of authorities withholding information from families about detained relatives. The mission said Iran has also increased its use of the death penalty, with more than 70 people, including five women and three boys, described as facing imminent risk of execution. Taken together, the panel concluded that these actions amount to crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment and torture carried out as part of a systematic attack on civilians.

What Happens Next

The report is not legally binding, but it adds to a growing body of documented evidence that could eventually feed into international judicial proceedings. It is based on interviews with 73 people, satellite imagery, video material and outside expert input, though investigators said an internet shutdown inside Iran and a lack of cooperation from both Washington and Tehran limited their work; requests for information sent to Iran's government and, separately, to US officials in June went largely unanswered. The mission's full findings are due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where the 47 member states will weigh possible next steps, including any push for accountability for both governments named in the report.

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