A United Nations fact-finding mission has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes by striking a primary school and a sports complex in Iran on 28 February, killing at least 177 civilians — including 120 children. The findings, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, also determined that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity in their violent suppression of mass anti-government protests that erupted in late December.

The deadliest of the two strikes hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, a city in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, collapsing its roof and killing 156 people, the vast majority of them children. The school sat adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval complex that was also struck that day — the opening day of the US and Israeli military campaign against Iran. The mission's three independent experts determined that the school was a clearly identifiable civilian object, was separated from the military complex by a wall, and had been operating as a school since 2016. They found no evidence it was being used for military purposes. Using evidence including the weapon type — a US Tomahawk missile, possessed only by the United States — and media reports indicating a preliminary internal US military inquiry found American forces likely responsible, investigators concluded the school was "the intended point of impact" rather than the result of an errant strike. Crucially, the report found that the US had relied on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian military commander was present but failed to adequately verify this before launching. The failure, investigators said, went beyond negligence: "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."

The second strike, also on 28 February, hit a sports complex and adjacent residential area in Lamerd, a town in southern Iran, killing at least 21 civilians including seven children. Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) dispersed clouds of tungsten pellets across the site and damaged nearby homes and a school. The mission reached similar conclusions: the complex was clearly identifiable, had no apparent military use, and the US — the only party to the conflict possessing PrSM missiles — had reasonable grounds of responsibility. US Central Command has denied launching any strikes on Lamerd that day, while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has stated the military would "never target civilian targets." The Pentagon has elevated its internal inquiry into the Minab school strike but has not published findings. In June, President Donald Trump dismissed the incident, saying "nobody" had purposely attacked a school and that "mistakes happen, war is dirty."

The same report examined Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests, finding that authorities carried out what it called an unprecedented and systematic attack on civilians across all 31 of Iran's provinces. Security personnel fired into crowds from rooftops and elevated positions, attacked healthcare facilities to deter the wounded from seeking treatment, and detained tens of thousands of people who faced torture, solitary confinement and denial of legal counsel. At least 29 men have since been executed following expedited trials on protest-related charges, with dozens more facing the same fate. Official Iranian figures put the death toll at 3,038 killed and 25,000 injured, but the mission said the true numbers were likely far higher — a US-based rights group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, has confirmed more than 7,000 deaths, almost all protesters. Tehran has blamed the unrest on "terrorists and rioters" backed by the US and Israel.

The mission's conclusions carry significant moral and legal weight, even if they are not legally binding. As the experts noted, Iranian civilians find themselves caught between two sources of grave harm: the violent repression of their own government and the deadly military conflict between Iran and the US and Israel. The mission called on both sides to cease hostilities, warning that it is ordinary Iranians who bear the heaviest cost of both.