A United Nations fact-finding mission said on Thursday it has reasonable grounds to believe the United States was responsible for two strikes in Iran on 28 February that killed at least 178 civilians, and that those attacks amounted to war crimes.
The same report found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their crackdown on anti-government protests.
The findings come from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, whose report goes to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Hiru News reported, citing Reuters.
The Minab school strike
The mission concluded that US forces were behind a Tomahawk missile attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, which killed more than 150 people, around 120 of them children.
Investigators said the US acted on intelligence that a senior Iranian commander was at the site but failed to verify it — a failure amounting to more than mere negligence. The US “directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object and acting recklessly as regards the possibility that this would happen,” they wrote.
The mission found the US “failed in its obligation to do everything feasible to verify that it was a military objective”, Al Jazeera reported, noting the building carried child-oriented murals, school signage and playground areas.
In June, US President Donald Trump said “nobody” purposefully attacked a girls’ school in Iran in February, citing an investigation into the incident.
The second strike hit a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing 22 civilians. The mission said the complex was visibly separate from an adjacent Revolutionary Guard compound. US Central Command denied striking Lamerd that day.
Findings against Tehran
The mission accused Iranian authorities of unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, an internet shutdown and severe curbs on free expression during the 2025–2026 protests, saying the real death toll exceeds the 3,038 the government has acknowledged.
It urged both states to end hostilities, provide reparations and pursue a diplomatic settlement. The Iranian and US missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to requests for comment. US officials have previously said operations comply with the law of armed conflict; Iran rejects allegations of systematic rights violations.
Figures still unreconciled
The school’s toll has been reported inconsistently since February: Iranian officials were cited at the time at 160, Al Jazeera’s March reporting at more than 170, and this report at more than 150.
The 3,038 protest figure is separate from wartime casualties — Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization reported in April that 3,375 people had been killed since the war began.
