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UN human rights experts have found reasonable grounds to believe that two United States strikes in Iran killed at least 177 civilians and may have amounted to indiscriminate attacks under international law.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said the February 28 strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd killed civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure. Its findings were contained in a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council.
In Minab, Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, killing at least 156 people, including 120 children, according to local authorities. The mission said the school was clearly identifiable and found no information indicating that it was being used for military purposes.
The experts said the school was located beside an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval facility that was also attacked that day, but found grounds to believe the school itself was the intended target rather than the result of an errant missile or collateral damage.
The United States has denied carrying out the Lamerd strike and said it was investigating the Minab attack.
The US military has not publicly released its findings on the Minab incident, while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said US forces would never deliberately target civilians.
In Lamerd, the mission said precision strike missiles scattered tungsten pellets across a sports complex and nearby residential areas, killing at least 21 civilians, including seven children, according to local authorities.
The experts said the sports complex was clearly identifiable and found no evidence that it was being used for military purposes.
They said evidence pointed to US responsibility for the strike, including the fact that the US was the only party known to possess the type of missile identified.
The US military, however, denied carrying out any strike on Lamerd that day and disputed reports that a Precision Strike Missile was used. The US State Department also rejected the UN experts’ findings, saying Washington did not give them credibility.
The fact-finding mission concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe the two attacks constituted the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks that resulted in civilian deaths, injuries or damage to civilian objects. The mission’s assessment is a finding by UN-appointed experts and not a criminal conviction by a court.
The report also examined Iran’s response to mass anti-government protests in December 2025 and January 2026, finding that Iranian security forces committed widespread violations, including killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and other abuses.
The mission said the violations amounted to crimes against humanity and reported that at least 29 men had been executed after expedited trials linked to the unrest.
