By SCM International Desk I Thursday, Sept 17, 2026
GENEVA — A United Nations-backed panel of international human rights experts declared on Thursday that it has found “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States military committed war crimes during two separate February airstrikes in Iran that resulted in severe civilian casualties, including the deaths of scores of children.
The findings—released in a comprehensive report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council—mark one of the most direct legal accusations leveled by an international body against American forces in recent history. The report concludes that military strikes directed at targets in southern Iran demonstrated a reckless disregard for civilian life, violating fundamental precepts of international humanitarian law.
The centerpiece of the U.N. investigation examines two February 28 bombardment incidents. The most lethal strike struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the southern Iranian city of Minab on the opening day of joint U.S. and Israeli operations. Local officials and rights groups report that over 150 individuals were killed in the strike, including at least 110 children.
The second strike targeted a clearly identifiable sports complex and surrounding residential zones in the city of Lamerd using munition dispersals containing tungsten fragments. That attack left 22 civilians dead and dozens wounded.
”The mission found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” the panel stated. Investigators emphasized that both sites were clearly recognizable civilian installations with no evidence of active military utility at the time of the strikes.
The panel noted that while the school in Minab sat adjacent to a military compound operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), military planners acted with “substantial awareness of risk and recklessness” by relying on outdated targeting intelligence that failed to verify the current usage of the building.
Background: Context of the Conflict
The February 28 air campaign marked a dramatic escalation in hostilities between Washington, Jerusalem, and Tehran.
Tensions inside Iran had already reached a breaking point following months of internal upheaval. In late December and January, the Iranian government launched a violent crackdown against nationwide anti-government protests, leading to thousands of reported deaths, mass detentions, and severe communications blackouts.
The U.N. fact-finding report simultaneously condemned the Iranian state, alleging that its security forces committed “crimes against humanity” during the domestic Crackdown. Human rights investigators noted that ordinary Iranian civilians have been caught between “gross human rights violations committed by their own government and the deadly international conflict with the United States and Israel.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Minab bombing, initial military statements pointed toward possible intelligence failures. Preliminary internal U.S. military assessments acknowledged that American Tomahawk missiles were likely responsible for the strike but maintained that the school was not intentionally targeted.
The administration initially suggested the facility was mistakenly tagged due to historical military designations of the building. Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command previously denied responsibility for the Lamerd strike.
The report’s conclusions intensify diplomatic pressure on the White House and the Pentagon. International legal experts note that while the United States is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), customary international law and the Geneva Conventions strictly forbid indiscriminate attacks where potential civilian harm outweighs immediate military advantage.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, reiterated calls for transparent, independent inquiries into U.S. targeting protocols, including the extent to which automated intelligence or artificial intelligence systems were utilized during targeting assessments.
The U.S. State Department and the Pentagon have reiterated that American forces operate under rigorous Rules of Engagement designed to minimize civilian casualties, though officials have not published the full findings of their internal investigations.
As the conflict stretches on, the U.N. panel warned that without immediate accountability and stricter adherence to humanitarian norms, civilian non-combatants will continue to pay an unacceptable price in the region.