Iran13 September, 20263 min read
Esmaeil Baghaei Says Iran Will Pursue Justice for US Attack on Lamerd
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Iran will pursue international prosecution for the Lamerd attack, calling it a war crime. Baghaei says US used prohibited weapons, including chemical agents, in Lamerd assault.
9 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Iran Reviews US Negotiation Proposals As Pakistan And Qatar Mediate Strait Of Hormuz Dispute →
Tehran Times was read line by line by the Watchdog: 3.5. See the score →
Lamerd attack, Iran vows justice
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran will pursue justice for victims of a US attack on Lamerd, a city in Fars Province, after missile strikes hit several residential areas on February 28, the first day of the second US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran in less than a year. Baghaei said “Twenty-one people were martyred at four locations on February 28, 2026, and around 180 others were injured and are still struggling with health problems,” and he added that “Four missiles struck the 30,000-strong city of Lamerd within 35 seconds.” He told reporters that “There is no doubt that the US crime constitutes a war crime,” and he said investigations had shown prohibited weapons were used, including cluster munitions “each containing 180,000 pellets.”
Baghaei also named Aveena, a two-year-old girl who lost her life in the attack, saying “The pellets pierced her body so deeply that they tore her apart,” and he said he was joined by two teenage boys injured in the US attack. In the same remarks, he said another investigation by Iran’s Health Ministry revealed that chemical agents were used in the munitions to make them deadlier, and he said all sites hit were residential and civilian areas.
Press conference details and quotes
During a press conference in Lamerd attended by domestic and foreign journalists, Baghaei stressed the need to explain the “February 28 crime” against the Iranian people to the world and called for documenting and recounting its human dimensions.
He said, “Every single martyr of Lamerd is dear and precious to the Iranian nation, and their blood will not be in vain,” and he described targeting civilians and residential areas as an explicit violation of international law.
Baghaei also said, “These documents can be used in raising the issue before international forums and institutions and in examining the responsibility of those who carried out the attacks,” as he announced Iran was pursuing the legal case concerning the US attack on Lamerd through international forums.
In a separate account of his remarks, ISNA quoted Baghaei saying, “Those who order and perpetrate these crimes, those who plan them and those who manufacture these weapons must not feel safe anywhere in the world,” and he tied the argument to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
ISNA further reported Baghaei’s claim that US and Israeli forces attacked four residential areas in Lamerd on Feb. 28, killing 21 residents and injuring nearly 180 others, and it said he described the attack as a “clear war crime.”
International forums, wider war claims
Baghaei said Iran expects the international community to join a campaign for justice for the martyrs of Lamerd and that the case would rely on technical and legal documentation to pursue the matter in international courts and organizations. ABNA English quoted him saying, “The impact of 4 missiles within 35 seconds on a city of 30,000 people proves the criminal and deliberate dimensions of this attack against civilians,” and it said the attacks killed 21 people and injured nearly 180 more. ABNA English also reported that Baghaei said the legal case would seek to hold to account “all authorities and individuals who provided misleading reports or media justifications and paved the way for the crime to occur,” while it described his claim that the IAEA and its Director General Rafael Grossi contributed by issuing ambiguous and incorrect reports.
In a different framing of the same dispute, Tehran Times reported Baghaei accusing the IAEA chief of helping create a narrative later used by the United States and Israel to justify military attacks, and it quoted him saying, “ambiguous and inaccurate” IAEA reports provided grounds for the United States and Israel to justify 'unlawful military action.' Tehran Times added that Baghaei said investigations into the Lamerd strike established that a prohibited weapon had been used, identifying it as a cluster missile with “about 180,000 fragments and three-gram pellets,” and it said he called for an international investigation and accountability.