Geneva (TDI): A United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran said Thursday it had reasonable grounds to believe US forces carried out two strikes on a school and a sports facility in Iran in February, concluding that the attacks constituted war crimes.
The mission also said Iranian authorities had committed crimes against humanity during a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests that began before the war.
The findings are contained in a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, which is due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report examined the conduct of the United States during the Iran war that began in February, as well as the Iranian government’s response to nationwide unrest that started in late December, Reuters reported.
US officials have previously maintained that American military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict, while Tehran has consistently rejected allegations of systematic human rights violations.
The UN mission said it had reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for an attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, where more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials.
The mission concluded that the attack caused civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure and amounted to a war crime under international law.
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According to the report, the school was located next to a naval complex belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The investigators said US forces failed to update information about the school in their targeting databases and did not adequately establish that the building was a legitimate military objective.
The report said US forces had relied on intelligence indicating that a senior Iranian military commander was present at the location but failed to sufficiently verify the information before launching the strike.
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The investigators said the circumstances went beyond simple negligence, arguing that the strike was carried out despite awareness of a substantial risk that a civilian facility could be hit.
