GoKawiilA UN fact-finding mission on Iran has said there are reasonable grounds to believe the US was behind two military strikes on a school and sports facility in Iran in February, and that these constituted war crimes.
It also found Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
The findings by the independent international fact-finding mission on Iran, to be submitted to the UN human rights council in Geneva, examined the US’s conduct during the Iran war that began in February and the Iranian government’s response to nationwide unrest that begun in late December.
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 UN experts said they found reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the city of Minab, where more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials.
It constituted an indiscriminate attack causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, amounting to a war crime under international law, the mission concluded.
View image in fullscreen A rubble-strewn classroom at Shajareh Tayyebeh school. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP
According to the report, the US relied on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian military commander was present at the site but failed 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, the US 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.”
In June the US president, Donald Trump, said that “nobody” purposefully attacked a girls’ school in Iran in February, citing an investigation into the incident. Reuters first reported that an initial internal US military investigation showed US forces were probably responsible for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran.
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