Geneva, Sept 18:
A UN-backed international fact-finding mission has said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that the United States committed war crimes in two airstrikes in Iran, including an attack on a school that killed civilians.
The findings relate to two strikes carried out on February 28 during the US-Israeli war against Iran. The mission said at least 178 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the two attacks.
One of the strikes involved the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. An Associated Press investigation had earlier reported that at least one US missile struck the school. Iranian state media said 168 people were killed, most of them children.
The fact-finding mission said it had reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in civilian deaths or injuries and damage to civilian objects.
The second strike involved precision missiles that dispersed tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, the mission said. It reported that 22 civilian men and women were killed in that incident. US Central Command has denied responsibility for the Lamerd strike.
The Trump administration has not directly accepted responsibility for the school strike and has not released the findings of a Pentagon investigation into the incident.
The UN-backed team also accused Iranian government security forces of carrying out killings on what it described as a “staggering scale” and alleged crimes against humanity by Iranian authorities.
The fact-finding mission, chaired by Bangladeshi jurist Sara Hossain, was established in 2022 by the UN Human Rights Council. Its latest findings cover alleged violations by both sides during the conflict.