Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A United Nations fact-finding mission has found there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes in two military strikes carried out on the first day of the war in Iran, strikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children. The findings were contained in a report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and released on Thursday, September 17, 2026. The experts said the two attacks, one on a primary school in the southern town of Minab and another on a sports complex in the town of Lamerd, constituted indiscriminate attacks causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, amounting to war crimes under international law. There was no immediate comment from the United States, which has previously denied striking Lamerd and said it is investigating what happened in Minab.
The first strike occurred on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran. Tomahawk missiles struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, killing at least 156 people, including around 120 schoolchildren, according to local authorities. The fact-finding mission's experts said the school was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex that was also attacked that day, but that the school was clearly identifiable and that no information indicated it was being used for military purposes. The experts said that based on the evidence gathered, including media reports indicating that a preliminary US military inquiry found US forces responsible, and the fact that the United States is the only party to the conflict that possesses Tomahawk missiles, they had reasonable grounds to believe the strike on the school was carried out by the United States. They also 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, citing survivors as saying the school was struck twice. United States media, including the New York Times and Reuters, have reported that preliminary findings of an internal military investigation suggest the deadly missile attack may have been the result of outdated targeting data, with US forces relying on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian military commander was present at the site but failing to adequately verify the information before launching the strike. Investigators said the failure to update targeting intelligence and confirm the building was a military objective amounted to more than mere negligence. Rather, they said, the United States 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.
The second strike occurred on the same day, when Precision Strike Missiles dispersed clouds of tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing at least 21 civilians, including seven children, according to local authorities. Again, the fact-finding mission's experts said the sports complex was clearly identifiable and that no information indicated it was used for military purposes. They concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe the strike was carried out by the United States, citing evidence including the fact that the United States is the only party to the conflict that possesses PrSM missiles. The report said the attack damaged nearby residential buildings and a school, and killed and injured 22 civilians. It concluded the strike was indiscriminate and therefore constituted a war crime. United States Central Command said in a statement in March that American forces did not launch any strikes into Lamerd that day and disputed reports identifying the weapon used as a PrSM. The Pentagon has elevated its investigation into the Minab strike but has not published any preliminary findings, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the US military would never target civilian targets.
The fact-finding mission also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during a crackdown on mass anti-government protests that took place across Iran in December and January, just weeks before the US and Israel launched airstrikes on February 28. The experts said killings by security forces occurred on a staggering and unprecedented scale across all 31 provinces. 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. Iranian authorities have not yet commented on the findings, but Tehran has previously rejected allegations of systematic violations of human rights.
The report marks a significant moment in the six-and-a-half-month war, which has severely reduced the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf and drawn in regional actors. The United States and Iran have yet to comment directly on the UN mission's findings. US officials have previously said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict, while Iran has consistently rejected allegations of systematic rights violations. The report will now go before the UN Human Rights Council, where it is likely to intensify international scrutiny of the conduct of both parties to the conflict. For the families of the 178 civilians killed in Minab and Lamerd, the findings offer a measure of acknowledgment that their loved ones were not collateral damage in a lawful military operation but victims of attacks that the UN's own experts believe amounted to war crimes. Whether that acknowledgment will lead to accountability remains an open question. The United States has not accepted blame, its internal investigations remain unpublished, and the victims have yet to see anyone held responsible for the deaths of 120 schoolchildren in a primary school that was clearly identifiable and had no military purpose.
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