U.N. experts find war crimes

A U.N.-backed fact-finding mission says it found reasonable grounds to believe the U.S. committed war crimes in two February airstrikes in Iran that killed scores of civilians, including women and children.

“reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks”

School in Minab targeted

The first strike hit a school in the southern city of Minab on February 28th using Tomahawk missiles. Iranian health officials said about 170 people were killed, mostly schoolgirls aged 7 to 12.

U.S. says it was an error

A preliminary U.S. assessment says the U.S. was likely responsible for the school strike but did not intentionally target it. Outdated intelligence may have wrongly identified the area as an Iranian military installation.

Second strike on Lamerd

The U.N. team also alleged the U.S. committed war crimes in a missile strike on February 28th that dispersed tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing 22 civilians.

U.S. denies Lamerd strike

U.S. Central Command has denied responsibility for the strike on Lamerd. The Trump administration has not directly accepted responsibility or released Pentagon investigation findings into either attack.

Iran also accused of crimes

The U.N. team also alleged Iran's state security forces committed crimes against humanity during a January crackdown on anti-government protests, saying civilians were caught between violations by both governments.