UN Fact-Finding Mission Says United States Committed War Crimes in Iran School and Sports Complex Strikes

A UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said it has reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes in two aerial attacks on Iran, including attacks on a school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd on 28 February.

“in two separate airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians including women and children”

Anadolu Ajansı

The mission said the strikes killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children, and it described the attacks as indiscriminate attacks causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure.

Afghanistan International

BBC reported that UN experts said the missile strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab killed at least 156 people, including 120 children, according to local authorities.

In the same February day, the BBC said Precision Strike Missiles dispersed clouds of tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing at least 21 civilians, including seven children, according to local authorities.

The UN mission also warned that civilians in Iran are caught between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government and the nation's deadly conflict with the United States and Israel.

The BBC said the fact-finding mission concluded the school was clearly identifiable and that no information indicated it was used for military purposes, while it found reasonable grounds to believe the strike was carried out by the US.

In that account, the BBC said the school was “the intended point of impact” and that the damage did not result from an errant strike or collateral damage from the attack on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval complex.

Anadolu Ajansı

For Lamerd, the BBC said the mission concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe the strike was carried out by the US, citing evidence including that the US is the only party to the conflict that possesses PrSM missiles.

The BBC also reported that the US military has said it carried no strikes into the city of Lamerd that day and disputed reports identifying the weapon used as a PrSM.

Separately, Reuters reported that the UN experts said the US failure to update information in relation to the school in its targeting databases and to confirm the building was a military objective amounted to more than mere negligence.

Beyond the February strikes, the UN fact-finding mission said it found Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during a crackdown on mass anti-government protests in January and described killings by security forces as occurring on "a staggering and unprecedented scale" across all 31 provinces.

“"a staggering and unprecedented scale"”

BBC

The BBC reported that the experts said protesters sustained severe wounds from metal shotgun pellets, and that security personnel fired assault rifles into crowds while also attacking healthcare facilities and arresting wounded demonstrators.

Reuters said the probe found the Iranian authorities carried out a widespread and systematic attack against civilians during protests that erupted in late December last year, involving unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and severe restrictions on freedom of expression.

Reuters also reported that the mission said it could not independently verify the death toll, but believed the number of dead and injured was likely far higher than official figures which say 3,038 people were killed and 25,000 people were injured.

The mission’s findings were to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and Reuters said states would discuss the findings when it is presented on Monday.