UN-backed human rights experts said Thursday there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes in two February strikes on civilian sites in Iran that killed at least 177 people, according to a report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran.
The findings, presented to the UN Human Rights Council, center on missile strikes carried out on 28 February, the day the US and Israel launched their war against Iran. The mission’s three independent experts investigated two of the deadliest attacks on civilians during the conflict. Both were judged to be indiscriminate attacks causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure.
In the southern town of Minab, Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, killing at least 156 people, including 120 children, according to local authorities. The school sat adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex that was also attacked that day. But the experts said the school was clearly identifiable and that no information indicated it was used for military purposes.
The mission cited several pieces of evidence pointing to American responsibility. The US is the only party to the conflict that possesses Tomahawk missiles. Media reports indicated that a preliminary US military inquiry found US forces responsible. Survivors said the school was struck twice. The experts concluded that the school was the intended point of impact, and that the damage did not result from an errant strike or collateral damage from the attack on the IRGC complex.
Lamerd strike and the Pentagon’s denial
Also on 28 February, Precision Strike Missiles dispersed clouds of tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in the town of Lamerd, killing at least 21 civilians, including seven children, according to local authorities. CNBC reported the death toll as 22. The experts again found no information indicating the sports complex was used for military purposes, and they concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe the strike was carried out by the US, citing the fact that the US is the only party to the conflict that possesses PrSM missiles.
The US military has said it carried no strikes on Lamerd that day and disputed reports identifying the weapon used as a PrSM. The US military has yet to release the findings of its investigation into the Minab strike. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the US would never target civilian targets.
A State Department official said the US does not give credibility to the report’s findings. The official told CNBC that the UN council pushes anti-American rhetoric and antisemitism and appeases repressive regimes. The Associated Press reported that White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the only party in the conflict that has committed war crimes is the Iranian regime. Washington withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council via an executive order from President Donald Trump in February 2025, saying that some UN bodies were acting contrary to US interests.
In both incidents, the experts said there were reasonable grounds to believe the US committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack resulting in loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects. The mission warned that 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.
Iran’s crackdown and crimes against humanity
The report also covers the Iranian authorities’ violent repression of mass protests that took place across Iran in December 2025 and January 2026. The experts described an unprecedented escalation from past crackdowns, marked by the widespread use of lethal force resulting in mass killings and injuries, and extensive arrests. Killings by security forces occurred on a staggering and unprecedented scale across all 31 provinces.
Witnesses, health workers, and victims’ families told the mission that security personnel positioned themselves on rooftops and other elevated positions, firing assault rifles into crowds. Protesters sustained severe wounds to the head, chest, and eyes from metal shotgun pellets, causing permanent blindness. As the crackdown escalated, security forces attacked healthcare facilities, beating and arresting wounded demonstrators and arresting some healthcare workers, which deterred victims from seeking life-saving care.
Tens of thousands of people detained during the protests faced torture, solitary confinement, and denial of legal counsel. The experts warned that the government has since intensified its use of the death penalty against protesters, with at least 29 men executed following expedited trials on charges connected to the unrest. The report noted it was not possible to independently verify the death toll from the crackdown, but said there were strong grounds to believe it was significantly higher than the official figure of 3,000. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has confirmed the killing of more than 7,000 people, almost all of them protesters.
The experts concluded that Iranian authorities committed many gross human rights violations during the crackdown, amounting to the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment and other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, and other inhumane acts, committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population. Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of fomenting the unrest and blamed the deaths on what they described as terrorists and rioters. Iran has not yet commented on the findings but has previously rejected allegations of systematic violations of human rights.
The report lands amid renewed diplomatic activity. According to an MS NOW report cited by CNBC, government officials said a meeting between Gulf Arab nations, the US, and Iran could take place around the time of the UN General Assembly next week. The US approved the Iranian delegation’s travel to attend the assembly, though a State Department spokesperson said the delegation will be under travel restrictions and prohibited from purchasing luxury or other goods. The AP reported that Tehran’s delegation is expected to include President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.