NewzThere are “reasonable grounds” to believe the US committed war crimes against civilians in Iran, who also face “gross human rights violations” from their own government, United Nations investigators said on Thursday. In their latest report, due to be presented to the Human Rights Council on Monday, the independent investigators urged the 47 countries in the council to press for an end to the war, hold those responsible for war crimes to account and give asylum to civilians fleeing... The international fact-finding mission on Iran says the findings centre on a pair of airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children
UN rights experts say US likely committed war crimes in Iran UN Human rights experts have confirmed following a fact-finding mission that they have "reasonable grounds" to believe that the US attacks on an Iranian school and a sports facility in February are tantamount to war crimes. One of the attacks included a 'double-tap' strike on an elementary school in the southern city of Minab on 28 February, killing 165 people, mostly students aged seven to 12. MEE reported at the time that a second strike killed sheltering survivors.
The attack on sportshall in the nearby city of Lamerd killed at least 21 people, including dozens of teenage girls. A New York Times investigation found that the strike involved a newly developed US-made ballistic missile which had been untested in combat. The UN-backed panel said that both the school and the sports hall were "clearly identifiable", and that they had 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 UN fact-finding mission on Iran said on Thursday 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 relied on intelligence suggesting a senior Iranian military commander was present at the site but failed to adequately verify the information before launching the strike. Investigators said the failure to update targeting intelligence and confirm the building was a military objective amounted to more than mere negligence.
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