UN-backed experts cite possible U.S. war crimes in Iran strikes
A UN-backed fact-finding mission has identified reasonable grounds to believe the U.S. committed war crimes during two airstrikes in Iran in February. The strikes resulted in significant civilian casualties, including at a school and a sports complex.
Why it matters
These findings represent a major escalation in international scrutiny regarding U.S. military conduct in the Middle East and potential violations of international humanitarian law.
Human rights experts commissioned by the UN's top human rights body say they have found “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States (U.S.) committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including on a school in the southern city of Minab.
The international fact-finding mission on Iran says the findings centre on a pair of airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.
At the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in February, at least one U.S. missile hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, according to an Associated Press investigation. There has been no final accounting of what happened. Iranian state media have said 168 people were killed in the strike, most of them children.
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