The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said the strikes amounted to indiscriminate attacks that caused civilian deaths, injuries and damage to civilian objects. Its findings were submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as part of a wider report examining conduct during the conflict and Iran’s response to domestic protests.
Investigators concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe US forces carried out the February 28 strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, in southern Iran. More than 150 people were killed, including about 120 children, according to figures cited by the mission.
The mission said the school was clearly identifiable as a civilian facility and that available material showed features including child-oriented murals, signage and playground areas. It found no evidence that the building was being used for military purposes at the time of the attack.
The mission said two Tomahawk cruise missiles struck the Minab school. It found that US targeting databases had not been updated to reflect the school’s civilian status, despite its location beside a naval facility. Investigators said imagery available before the attack showed the site’s educational character and indications that children were present. The report said the obligation to distinguish military objectives from civilian objects required feasible verification before an attack, particularly where intelligence was uncertain and the potential consequences for civilians were severe at the time.
According to the report, US targeting relied on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian military commander was present at the site. The mission said American forces failed to do everything feasible to verify that the building was a military objective before launching the strike.
It said the failure went beyond negligence, concluding that the United States directed the attack while aware of a substantial risk that the target was a civilian object and acted recklessly regarding that possibility. On that basis, the mission said the strike constituted the war crime of launching an indiscriminate attack.
The experts reached a similar conclusion over a strike on a sports complex and nearby residential area in Lamerd on the same day. The report said the attack killed or injured 22 civilians and damaged civilian buildings. Investigators said the sports facility was visibly separate from an adjacent compound associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
US Central Command has previously denied carrying out a strike in Lamerd. The mission said it sought information and meetings with US officials but received no response to its requests. American officials have maintained that military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict.
President Donald Trump said in June that nobody had deliberately attacked a girls’ school in Iran, while referring to an investigation into the Minab strike. The Pentagon has not publicly released final findings from that inquiry.
The White House rejected the UN mission’s conclusions. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly criticised the Human Rights Council and said Iran was responsible for war crimes and attacks affecting Americans and neighbouring countries. The administration did not accept the mission’s account of US responsibility.
The same UN report found reasonable grounds to believe Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during the crackdown on nationwide protests that began in late December 2025. It cited unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and severe restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information.
Iran has rejected allegations that its security forces systematically targeted peaceful demonstrators, saying violence was driven by armed rioters and foreign-backed actors. Iranian authorities have reported 3,038 deaths and about 25,000 injuries linked to the unrest, while the mission said the true toll was likely higher but could not verify a definitive figure.
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