UN mission finds grounds to believe US committed war crimes in Iran, Tehran crimes against humanity

A UN fact-finding mission on Iran said today (17 September) it had reasonable grounds to believe the United States was behind two military strikes on a school and sports facility in Iran in ‌February and that these constituted war crimes.

It also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

The findings in a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, examined the US's conduct during the Iran war that began in February and the Iranian government's response to nationwide unrest that began in late December.

The Iranian and US permanent missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

US officials have previously said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict, while Iran has consistently rejected allegations of systematic rights violations.

Minab school strike

The UN experts said they found reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the city of Minab, where more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials.

The attack constituted an indiscriminate attack causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, amounting to a war crime under international law, the mission concluded.

According to the report, the US failure to update information in relation to the school, which was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex, in its targeting databases and to confirm the building was a military objective amounted to more than mere negligence.

"Rather, the US directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of ‌striking a ⁠civilian object and acting recklessly as regards the possibility that this would happen."

In June US President Donald Trump said that "nobody" purposefully attacked a girls' school in Iran in February, citing an investigation into the incident. 

UN experts said the school was a clearly identifiable civilian object and found no evidence that it was being used for military purposes.

The experts reached a similar conclusion over a ⁠strike on a sports centre in Lamerd. The report said the attack damaged nearby residential buildings and a school and killed and injured 22 civilians. It concluded that the strike was indiscriminate and therefore constituted a war crime.

Iran abuses

The UN mission probe found that the ⁠Iranian authorities carried out a widespread and systematic attack against civilians during protests that erupted in late December last year, involving unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and severe restrictions on freedom of expression.

Rights groups say bystanders were among those killed during the biggest crackdown since Shi'ite Muslim clerics took power in the 1979 revolution. Tehran blamed "terrorists and rioters" backed by exiled ⁠opponents and foreign foes the US and Israel.

The probe said it could not independently verify the death toll, but that it believed the number of dead and injured was likely far higher than official figures which say 3,038 people were killed, and 25,000 people injured.

Saudis and Houthis exchange strikes 

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh strikes across their border today and Yemenis took to boats in the Red Sea to escape fighting, as the spreading Middle ‌East war created new threats to global oil supplies.

Houthi-controlled television reported fresh Saudi air strikes on Thursday in Hajjah province close to the Saudi border near the Red Sea coast, and the vicinity of Taiz further inland to the south.

The Houthis, who have seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coast since last week in a lightning advance, say the Saudi Air Force has conducted hundreds of airstrikes in recent days