A UN-backed fact-finding mission has said there are reasonable grounds to believe that the United States was responsible for two military strikes on civilian sites in Iran in February, concluding that the attacks amounted to war crimes.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said the strikes targeted a primary school in the southern city of Minab and a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd on February 28.
In Minab, the mission said it found reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School, where more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials.
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Investigators said the school was a clearly identifiable civilian site and found no evidence that it was being used for military purposes. The panel identified the attacks as a Tomahawk missile strike on a clearly identifiable school.
The mission concluded that the attack was indiscriminate, resulting in civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, and therefore constituted a war crime under international law.
The second incident involved a strike on a sports complex and nearby residential area in Lamerd. The UN mission said 22 civilians were killed or injured and concluded that the attack was also indiscriminate and amounted to a war crime.
The findings are part of a report that will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
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The United States has previously said its military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict. US Central Command has also denied responsibility for the Lamerd strike.
Speaking at 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said that the strike on the school was “calculated” and “phased,” rejecting any suggestion that it was accidental.
“This cruel attack is but the visible tip of a far bigger iceberg… no one can believe that the attack on the school was anything other than deliberate and intentional,” he said.
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