UN Investigators Say Two U.S. Strikes in Iran Were Unlawful Attacks on Civilians
A United Nations fact-finding mission has found reasonable grounds to believe the United States carried out two strikes in Iran in February that killed and injured civilians. The mission concluded the attacks were the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks, meaning strikes that do not separate military targets from civilians and civilian buildings. The findings, reported by The Guardian, are to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The deadliest strike happened on 28 February at the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, Hormozgan province. A US Tomahawk missile, a long-range guided weapon, collapsed the school roof and killed 156 civilians, including 120 children. The mission said the school was clearly identifiable and found no evidence it was used for military purposes. An Associated Press investigation separately found that at least one US missile hit the school at the start of the war.
According to the mission, the United States acted on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian military commander was at the school site but did not adequately verify that information before striking. International humanitarian law, the set of rules for armed conflict, requires distinction, separating civilians from military targets, and verification, checking targets before attack.
The second strike on 28 February hit a clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area in Lamerd with a weapon that scattered tungsten pellets, small metal fragments that spread over a wide area. It damaged nearby residential buildings and a school and killed and injured 22 civilians.
Washington has disputed parts of the account. US Central Command said in March that US forces did not launch any strikes into the city of Lamerd on 28 February. In June, US President Donald Trump said nobody had purposely attacked a girls' school in Iran in February, citing an investigation into the incident. The Pentagon has elevated its inquiry into the school strike but has not published any preliminary findings.
The experts were commissioned by the UN's top human rights body. The mission reviewed 29 reports submitted by the Government of Iran since December 2025. In a March urgent debate on protection of children, the aerial attacks on the school were described as a grave breach of international humanitarian law, according to the Council transcript.
The same mission also found Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity, meaning widespread or systematic attacks on civilians, during their crackdown on anti-government protests. It called for a human rights-based and inclusive peace process involving all parties to the regional conflict.
The broader context here is accountability without enforcement. A fact-finding mission cannot prosecute. It can create a record, shape talks in Geneva, and increase political pressure on Washington and Tehran at the same time. Attribution is central, and legal specialists will likely focus closely on the weapon effects and how identifiable the targets were. For US Central Command, the Lamerd denial and the pending Pentagon inquiry now sit against those detailed findings. For Iran, the parallel finding of crimes against humanity complicates any effort to use the report only as diplomatic leverage.
