The UN report on Iran war crimes finds there are reasonable grounds to conclude the United States committed war crimes during two strikes in Iran this year, including a February attack on a primary school that Iranian officials say killed more than 120 children.
According to the independent fact-finding mission mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, the two incidents in late February, one at a school in Minab and another at a sports complex in Lamerd, resulted in at least 178 civilian deaths. The findings are set to be formally presented in Geneva.
The mission also documents a sweeping crackdown by Iranian authorities on anti-government protests since late December, reporting thousands of demonstrators killed, including at least 221 children, and concluding the abuses amount to crimes against humanity. The panel cites unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and severe curbs on free expression. It notes it could not independently verify a complete death toll but believes actual casualties far exceed official figures of 3,038 dead and 25,000 injured.
UN report on Iran war crimes details Minab school strike
In the larger of the two US strikes, investigators say Tomahawk missiles struck the clearly identifiable Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab on 28 February, at the outset of the US-Israeli conflict against Iran. Iranian officials reported more than 150 fatalities, including around 120 schoolchildren, while state media cited a total of 168 dead. No final public accounting has been released. Strikes in the area began around 10 a.m. IRST, with reports emerging on social media less than two hours later. Given Iran’s Saturday-to-Thursday school week, the campus would have been occupied at the time.
The school had not had any association with the IRGC for nine years, according to the report. Imagery and videos shared online showed the building destroyed, with school materials visible in the debris. The mission said there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States launched indiscriminate attacks that caused civilian deaths and damage to civilian objects. It found the strikes were directed at the school building despite awareness of a substantial risk to a civilian object, characterizing the actions as reckless.
US officials, according to the report, relied on intelligence indicating a senior Iranian commander was present at the school. Investigators said planners did not sufficiently re-verify the intelligence or confirm that the target remained a lawful military objective before launching the strike. Reuters previously reported that an initial internal US military inquiry indicated US forces were likely responsible for the Minab strike. In June, President Donald Trump said that “nobody” deliberately attacked a girls’ school in Iran, citing an investigation into the incident. The administration has not directly accepted responsibility or released the Pentagon’s findings.
Second 28 February strike in Lamerd examined
The panel also reviewed a separate 28 February attack in Lamerd, where precision munitions allegedly dispersed tungsten pellets over a clearly identifiable sports complex and nearby residential area. The strike damaged homes and a school and killed or injured 22 civilians, the report states, concluding the attack was indiscriminate and constituted a war crime. In March, US Central Command said US forces did not conduct strikes inside the city of Lamerd that day.
Crackdown in Iran amounts to crimes against humanity
Beyond the airstrikes, the report chronicles killings by Iranian security forces on what it describes as a staggering scale during nationwide protests. At least 221 children were reportedly among the dead, some as young as two years old. Tehran has attributed the unrest to terrorists and rioters backed by foreign adversaries, including Israel and the United States. The mission concluded that Iranian civilians were caught between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity by their own government and the country’s conflict with the United States and Israel.
The Human Rights Council created the fact-finding mission in 2022. It is chaired by Bangladeshi jurist Sara Hossain and is composed of independent experts. Neither the US nor Iran’s permanent missions in Geneva immediately responded to requests for comment. US officials have maintained that military operations comply with the law of armed conflict, while Iranian authorities routinely deny systematic rights abuses.
The mission urged Iran and the United States to cease violations, provide full reparations to victims, and guarantee non-repetition. It also called for an immediate end to hostilities, renewed diplomatic efforts by all Member States toward a permanent peace, and third-state accountability through universal jurisdiction. Related unrest elsewhere has drawn scrutiny, including when Kenya registers undocumented Burundians after trader clampdown. The UN Human Rights Office continues to monitor developments.