The U.S. may have committed war crimes when its strikes allegedly hit an elementary school and a sports facility in Iran, according to a United Nations report publicly released on Thursday. The U.N.’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said it found “reasonable grounds to believe that the United States committed a war crime by launching indiscriminate attacks that killed or injured civilians or damaged civilian objects.” The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, triggering a war that has stretched into its seventh month. Among those attacks, the mission identified U.S.
Tomahawk missile strikes that hit Tree of Tayyiba Elementary School in Minab, killing more than 150 people, including 120 children, and an alleged U.S. missile strike that dispersed tens of thousands of tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing 22 civilians. (The U.S. denied carrying out any strike within the vicinity of Lamerd on Feb. 28.) Both civilian facilities were “clearly identifiable,” the report said. Human Rights Council on Monday. The war has produced a significant civilian toll, with at least 2,100 people killed across the region by late April.
In Iran, human rights groups estimate that more than 1,700 civilians were killed by the end of April, including more than 1,000 civilians who were killed in the first five days of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign. That includes hundreds of women and children, dozens of health care workers, and at least nine journalists. Iranian authorities reported another 18 deaths from U.S. strikes on Sept. 1, which included several civilians.
Israel’s strikes on Lebanon have also killed more than 4,300 people and displaced more than one million since early March, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. U.S. conduct in its war against Iran has come under growing scrutiny. On Sept. 1, an apparent U.S. strike hit a wedding celebration in Kuhestak, killing five people and wounding more than 60.
Washington has not accepted responsibility, although it launched an internal probe into the strike. An analysis by indicated that the damage was likely caused by a direct hit from a U.S. munition. The U.S. also carried out strikes on bridges and electrical infrastructure in Iran in July, after President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened attacks on Iranian bridges and power plants.
In March, Trump threatened to “blow up” Iran’s desalination plants if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a move that legal experts said could violate international law. He also warned in April that a “whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran acquiesced to U.S. demands. Israel’s bombing of Iranian fuel depots, which shrouded Tehran in plumes of toxic black smoke, also raised warnings of potentially decades-long harm to public health.
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