UN Mission Cites Possible U.S. War Crimes in Iran

United Nations-commissioned human rights experts reported Thursday that they found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran that together killed at least 177 civilians, according to BBC World. The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran examined a missile strike on a primary school in the southern city of Minab and a strike on a sports complex in Lamerd, concluding both were indiscriminate attacks that killed civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure.

Local authorities said the school strike killed at least 156 people, including 120 children, per the BBC. The mission said 22 civilians died in the Lamerd strike. The experts found the school was clearly identifiable as a civilian facility and said no information indicated it was used for military purposes.

Washington rejected the findings. A State Department official said the U.S. did not give the report credibility, and the White House dismissed the UN's top human rights body, per DW, saying the only party committing war crimes in the conflict is the Iranian government. The Pentagon declined to comment, saying its own investigation of Minab remains ongoing. The U.S. has not acknowledged carrying out the school strike and previously denied hitting Lamerd.

The context

The mission, established in 2022 and chaired by Bangladeshi jurist Sara Hossain, was commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council and consists of three independent experts. Its latest report covers the war between the U.S. and Iran, which began when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes, as well as the Iranian government's response to nationwide unrest that began in late December.

The report also implicates Tehran. The experts found Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during a January crackdown on mass anti-government protests, saying killings by security forces occurred on "a staggering and unprecedented scale" across all 31 provinces, according to the BBC. Iran has not commented on the findings but has previously rejected allegations of systematic human rights violations. The mission said Iranian civilians are caught between abuses by their own government and the country's conflict with the U.S. and Israel. The two strikes examined were among the deadliest attacks on civilians in the war.

Why it matters

This is the first formal UN finding implicating the United States in war crimes during the six-month-old Iran war. While the report is not binding, it adds to the body of international evidence about the conflict and could eventually support legal cases in international courts, per DW. The findings also arrive days before President Trump faces skeptical leaders at the UN General Assembly, raising diplomatic stakes. The report cuts both ways: it accuses Washington of war crimes and Tehran of crimes against humanity against its own population, complicating each government's efforts to dismiss it.

What’s next

The mission's three experts were expected to present their findings to the UN Human Rights Council, a 47-member body, on Monday. The Pentagon says its investigation of the Minab strike is ongoing, with nothing to announce yet. Iran has not responded to the report's findings on its January crackdown. Open questions include whether the U.S. will acknowledge the school strike and whether the evidence leads to any international legal proceedings.