fajar-ramadhan
A United Nations investigative body has concluded that the United States military likely committed war crimes during military strikes in Iran that resulted in extensive civilian casualties, while simultaneously finding that the Iranian government carried out crimes against humanity against its own population during recent civil unrest.
The comprehensive findings, released by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, focus heavily on a pair of devastating aerial attacks launched on February 28, 2026. According to the mission, those two US operations resulted in the deaths of at least 178 non-combatants, including dozens of women and children, on the opening day of the broader armed conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran.
The single deadliest event examined by the UN investigators took place in the southern Iranian city of Minab. In that incident, American forces deployed Tomahawk cruise missiles against the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, also identified as the all-girls Al-Shajara School. The strike completely destroyed the compound, killing more than 150 people, including approximately 120 children and 26 teachers.
Following an analysis of the strike, the UN panel concluded that American military personnel failed to comply with international obligations requiring armed forces to do everything feasible to verify that a target is a legitimate military objective. The investigators emphasized that the school possessed obvious, readily identifiable civilian features that should have prevented the strike.
The report detailed that pre-attack visual evidence, including photographs and satellite imagery, clearly showed educational signage, child-oriented murals painted on exterior walls, and playground facilities. Furthermore, satellite imagery captured shortly before the bombardment appeared to show figures identifiable as young children gathered in the school’s open courtyard.
The aftermath of the Minab bombing prompted widespread international outrage. Photographic records and state media broadcasts from the scene captured the scale of the destruction, showing parents searching through the wreckage for the remains of their children, surrounded by bloodstained schoolbooks and backpacks. The UN mission noted that several local families lost multiple children in the attack.
In public remarks regarding the incident in June, US President Donald Trump claimed that nobody intentionally targeted an educational facility, referring to an internal administrative review. While US investigators subsequently indicated that outdated intelligence led personnel to mistake the civilian school for an adjacent Iranian naval facility, the Pentagon has not formally published any completed findings on the incident.
The UN mission also investigated a second US bombardment conducted on the same day in the city of Lamerd. Precision-guided missiles struck a sports complex and an adjacent residential area, releasing specialized clouds of tungsten pellets that killed 22 civilian men and women.
According to the report, the sports facility was visibly separate and distinct from an adjoining compound operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In response to reports of the incident, US Central Command issued a statement in March denying that American forces had conducted any military strikes in Lamerd on that date.
Alongside its assessment of US operations, the UN fact-finding mission documented widespread, systematic human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by Iranian authorities during protests that began in late December 2025 and continued into early 2026.
Investigators reported that state security forces engaged in a severe, coordinated crackdown designed to suppress dissent across the country. The documented abuses included nationwide internet shutdowns, unlawful killings, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, the widespread use of torture, and severe restrictions on the freedom of expression.
While official figures published by the Iranian government recorded 3,038 deaths and approximately 25,000 injuries during the unrest, the UN mission assessed that the true toll of casualties inflicted by state forces is substantially higher. The mission stated that independent verification of exact figures remains difficult due to state suppression.
Tehran has continually rejected allegations of state wrongdoing during the demonstrations, maintaining that the vast majority of deaths were caused by violent rioters and subversive elements supported by exiled opposition groups, the United States, and Israel.
The findings of the investigative mission are scheduled to be formally presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In its conclusions, the panel called for an immediate cessation of armed hostilities between the warring parties, demanded that full reparations be provided to all victims of unlawful attacks, and urged both nations to seek a permanent resolution through diplomatic channels.
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