By Benson Daniel
A United Nations fact-finding mission has found reasonable grounds to believe that the United States was responsible for two military strikes on civilian sites in Iran, including a girls’ primary school where more than 150 people were killed.
The findings are contained in a report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, which is due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The mission said the February 28 strikes may constitute war crimes.
The most deadly incident involved the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, southern Iran. The UN mission said the strike killed more than 150 people, including approximately 120 children.
A second strike hit a sports facility in Lamerd, causing 22 civilian casualties and damaging nearby residential buildings, according to the investigators. The mission said the attacks appeared to have been carried out without adequate verification that the targets were military objectives.
The investigators concluded that the attacks were indiscriminate and said the available evidence indicated that US forces had acted recklessly on the basis of unverified intelligence.
The United States has not accepted responsibility for the attacks. US Central Command has also denied responsibility for the Lamerd strike, while Washington had not immediately responded to requests for comment on the UN findings.
The school strike has been the subject of investigations since February, with satellite imagery, weapons analysis and other evidence previously pointing towards a US strike. UN experts had earlier condemned the attack and called for accountability over the deaths of children at the school.
The latest report also examined events inside Iran. The UN mission accused Iranian authorities of committing crimes against humanity during a crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests that began in December.
The mission documented allegations of unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention and restrictions on freedom of expression. It said Iranian security forces had used excessive force against protesters and that the death toll was substantially higher than official figures.
The findings place allegations of serious violations by both sides within the broader context of the conflict, while the UN mission’s conclusions remain subject to the applicable international legal processes.
The report is expected to increase pressure for further investigations into the civilian deaths and the conduct of military operations during the conflict.
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