GENEVA, September 20 — A United Nations-mandated fact-finding mission has concluded that the United States may have committed war crimes in two strikes on Iran in February 2026, findings submitted to the UN Human Rights Council state. The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran investigated the strikes over months of work and found reasonable grounds to believe the US acted “recklessly.” The strikes occurred during the opening hours of a joint US-Israeli assault on Iran that began on February 28, 2026, amid stalled nuclear negotiations.
The White House has rejected the findings.
No access, a reconstructed record
Neither Washington nor Israel granted the mission access to personnel or responded to its requests for information. According to the filing, investigators relied instead on satellite imagery, verified video, weapons analysis, and witness accounts from Iranian sources and independent organizations. The first strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, Hormozgan province, in southern Iran, at about 10:30am local time (07:00 GMT) on February 28.
The school stood roughly 72 metres from an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval facility but was separated from it by a wall, had its own entrance, and was visible in satellite imagery as a functioning school, with children’s murals, a playground, and classrooms. Investigators found the school was struck twice.
The first strike hit the lower floor, and as staff moved children to a prayer room upstairs, a second hit the upper floor, killing many of them. Local officials put the death toll at 156, including 120 schoolchildren and 26 female teachers. Independent sources cited by the UN mission put the toll at 157, including 15 children aged six.
The record shows the administration initially tried to place the blame on Iranian forces. Weapons analysts identified a missile used in the strike as a US Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, which Iran does not possess, from fragments at the site.
The second strike, in Lamerd
The second strike occurred at about 5:10pm (13:40 GMT) on February 28, on the Shahid Haj Khalil Naimi Cultural and Sports Complex in Lamerd, Fars province, also in southern Iran. The UN-mandated mission said the facility had no military use. Verified video showed one missile exploding over a nearby residential area, then a second directly above the centre.
Local officials reported 22 deaths, including four children, and more than 100 injuries. An adjacent school was also damaged.
The mission concluded that when identifying and directing its attack against the primary school in Minab, whose civilian nature is apparent, the US failed in its obligation to do everything feasible to verify that it was a military objective. The report’s findings have renewed scrutiny of US military targeting procedures and the legal framework governing strikes on civilian infrastructure in the ongoing US-Israel war on Iran. What to watch next is whether the Human Rights Council takes up the findings, and whether Washington answers the mission’s outstanding requests for information.
