UN-backed experts cite possible US war crimes in Iran strikes

UN-backed human rights experts said in Geneva that they found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including one on a school in Minab. The same report accused Iran’s government of crimes against humanity against its own people. The findings were published Thursday and will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The fact-finding mission was created in 2022 by the Human Rights Council and is chaired by jurist Sara Hossain of Bangladesh.

The experts said the U.S. strikes killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.

The report said one strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, and another struck a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd on Feb. 28.

The team said more than 70 people in Iran, including five women and three boys, remain at imminent risk of execution.

The report was based on interviews with 73 people, satellite imagery, photographs, video material and information from credible organizations and experts.

Published Sep 18, 2026 12:37 am KST

A cleric takes a photograph at the shattered Shajareh Tayyebeh school, which has become a place of mourning and a memorial to those killed in a U.S. airstrike on Feb. 28, in Minab, southern Iran, on Sept. 7. AP-Yonhap

GENEVA — Human rights experts commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body say they have found “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including on a school in the southern city of Minab. They also accuse Iran’s theocratic government of carrying out crimes against humanity against its own people in a report published Thursday.

The report, while not binding, adds to international evidence gathered about crimes in the war in Iran, and could eventually be used in efforts to reach justice in international courts.

The fact-finding mission on Iran, chaired by jurist Sara Hossain of Bangladesh, is made up of independent experts and was created in 2022 by the Human Rights Council, the U.N.’s top human rights body, which is based in Geneva.

The experts were expected to present their findings on Monday to the council, which is made up of 47 U.N. member countries.

The team says the U.S. launched ‘indiscriminate’ attacks

The international fact-finding mission says its findings on U.S. war crimes center on a pair of U.S. airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.

At the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in February, at least one U.S. missile hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, according to an Associated Press investigation. There has been no final accounting of what happened.

Iranian state media have said 168 people were killed in the strike, most of them children.

“Following the United States and Israeli attacks on 28 February, the mission found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” a U.N. statement about the team's findings said.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking comment.

In their report, the experts concluded that “the building of the school was the intended point of impact” and the resulting damage wasn’t the result of an errant strike or collateral damage from an attack on a compound of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard next to the school.

The Trump administration has yet to directly accept responsibility or release the findings of a Pentagon investigation into the school bombing.

The U.N.-backed team based its allegations on two strikes — one involving Tomahawk missiles that hit the “clearly identifiable” school, and another in which Precision Strike Missiles dispersed tungsten pellets over a “clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area” in the southern city of Lamerd, also on Feb. 28.

The U.N.-backed team said 22 civilian men and women were killed. U.S. Central Command has denied responsibility for the strike on Lamerd.

Experts cite ‘crimes against humanity’ by Iran's government

The team found that killings by state security forces in Iran have occurred on a “staggering scale,” and civilians faced “gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government."

Iranian security forces carried out “violent repression” over the last two years by firing assault rifles into crowds, beating protesters and arresting healthcare workers, among other things, the team said. Detainees faced torture, and were deprived of legal counsel, leaving their families “in the dark” about their whereabouts, the experts said.

The Tehran government intensified the use of the death penalty, and said more than 70 people – including five women and three boys – remain at “imminent risk of execution,” they added.

“The report concluded that many of these gross violations amount to crimes against humanity — including murder, imprisonment, torture, and other inhumane acts committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians,” the statement said.

Both U.S. and Iran should provide reparations, they say

The experts said the United States and Iran should halt all rights violations and crimes, and provide “full reparations to victims.”

The report, built on a “victims-centered approach,” was based on interviews with 73 people both inside and outside Iran, along with documentation, satellite imagery, photographic and video material and information from “credible” organizations and experts, the experts wrote.

The ongoing conflict that has driven people from their homes in Iran as well as an internet shutdown and a lack of full cooperation from the two governments partially impeded the team's efforts to get information.

Nearly three dozen requests from the experts for information from Iran's government went unanswered, they said, as have requests in June to the U.S. government for information and meetings with officials.

联合国支持的人权专家在日内瓦表示，他们有合理理由相信美国在伊朗发动的两次袭击中犯下了战争罪，其中一次袭击发生在米纳布的一所学校。同一份报告还指责伊朗政府对其人民犯下了反人类罪。调查结果于周四公布，并将提交联合国人权理事会。

该实况调查团由人权理事会于 2022 年设立，由孟加拉国法学家萨拉·侯赛因担任主席。

专家表示，美军空袭造成至少178名平民死亡，其中包括妇女和儿童。

报告称，2月28日，一枚炸弹击中了米纳布的沙贾雷·塔耶贝学校，另一枚炸弹击中了拉默德的一个体育中心和居民区。

该团队表示，伊朗仍有 70 多人面临被处决的迫在眉睫的风险，其中包括 5 名妇女和 3 名男孩。

该报告基于对 73 人的采访、卫星图像、照片、视频资料以及来自可信组织和专家的信息。

发布于2026年9月18日凌晨12:37（韩国标准时间）

9月7日，在伊朗南部米纳布，一名神职人员在被炸毁的沙贾雷·塔伊贝学校前拍照。这所学校已成为悼念场所，纪念在2月28日美军空袭中丧生的遇难者。（美联社-韩联社）

日内瓦——联合国最高人权机构委托的人权专家表示，他们已找到“合理理由”相信美国在伊朗的两次袭击中犯下战争罪行，其中包括对南部城市米纳布一所学校的袭击。他们在周四发布的一份报告中还指责伊朗神权政府对其人民犯下反人类罪。

该报告虽然不具有约束力，但补充了国际社会收集的有关伊朗战争罪行的证据，并最终可能用于在国际法庭上伸张正义的努力。

由孟加拉国法学家萨拉·侯赛因担任主席的伊朗问题实况调查团，由独立专家组成，于 2022 年由联合国最高人权机构——位于日内瓦的人权理事会设立。

专家们预计将于周一向由47个联合国成员国组成的安理会提交他们的调查结果。

该团队称美国发动了“不分青红皂白”的攻击

国际实况调查团表示，其对美国战争罪行的调查结果主要集中在两起美国空袭事件上，这两起事件造成至少 178 名平民死亡，其中包括妇女和儿童。

据美联社调查，在2月份美以对伊朗发动战争之初，至少有一枚美军导弹击中了位于米纳布的沙贾雷·塔伊贝学校。目前尚未有关于事件经过的最终定论。

伊朗国家媒体称，此次袭击造成 168 人死亡，其中大部分是儿童。

联合国就调查小组的调查结果发表声明称：“在2月28日美国和以色列发动袭击后，调查小组有合理理由相信美国犯下了发动不分青红皂白袭击的战争罪行，导致平民伤亡或民用物体受损。”

美国国务院尚未立即回应美联社的置评请求。

专家在报告中得出结论：“学校建筑是预定的打击目标”，造成的破坏并非误击或袭击学校旁边的伊朗革命卫队大院造成的附带损害。

特朗普政府至今尚未直接承认对这起校园爆炸案负责，也未公布五角大楼的调查结果。

联合国支持的调查小组根据两起袭击事件提出了指控——一起是使用战斧导弹击中了一所“清晰可辨”的学校，另一起是使用精确打击导弹向南部城市拉默德的一个“清晰可辨的体育中心和居民区”投掷钨丸，袭击也发生在 2 月 28 日。

联合国支持的调查小组称，有22名平民男女丧生。美国中央司令部否认对拉默德的袭击负责。

专家称伊朗政府犯有“反人类罪”。

该团队发现，伊朗国家安全部队的杀戮规模“惊人”，平民面临着“本国政府犯下的严重侵犯人权和反人类罪行”。

该小组表示，过去两年里，伊朗安全部队实施了“暴力镇压”，包括向人群开枪、殴打抗议者、逮捕医护人员等等。专家们还指出，被拘留者遭受酷刑，被剥夺了获得法律援助的权利，导致他们的家人对他们的下落一无所知。

他们补充说，德黑兰政府加大了死刑的使用力度，并表示有 70 多人（包括 5 名妇女和 3 名男孩）仍然面临“迫在眉睫的处决风险”。

声明称：“报告得出结论，这些严重侵犯人权的行为中有很多构成危害人类罪，包括谋杀、监禁、酷刑和其他不人道行为，这些都是对平民进行广泛和系统性攻击的一部分。”

他们说，美国和伊朗都应该提供赔偿。

专家表示，美国和伊朗应该停止一切侵犯人权和犯罪行为，并向受害者提供“全面赔偿”。

专家们写道，该报告以“以受害者为中心的方法”为基础，采访了伊朗境内外的 73 人，并参考了文件、卫星图像、照片和视频资料以及来自“可信”组织和专家的信息。

伊朗持续不断的冲突迫使人们离开家园，加上互联网中断以及两国政府缺乏充分合作，在一定程度上阻碍了该团队获取信息的努力。

他们表示，专家们向伊朗政府提出的近36项信息请求均未得到回应，6月份向美国政府提出的信息请求和与官员会面的请求也同样未得到回应。