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UN panel finds the US strike on a Minab primary school was a war crime
September 18, 2026
United Nations experts conclude that American strikes on a Minab school and on a Lamerd sports venue were indiscriminate and amount to war crimes.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran is a United Nations panel of experts. Its findings cover the war between the United States and Iran that began in February and is now more than six months old and stalemated.
Key facts
- More than 150 people died at the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, about 120 of them pupils, Iranian officials say, and the UN experts hold US forces responsible for that attack.
- Tungsten pellets scattered from Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) across a sports complex and the homes around it in the town of Lamerd on 28 February, and local authorities put the toll at no fewer than 21 civilians dead, seven of them children.
- AAA figures put the national gasoline average at $4.44 a gallon after an overnight rise of 7 cents, close to 50% higher than before the war in Iran began in February.
- Forty-eight F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft are being bought from the United States by Saudi Arabia, a significant boost for its air force, the U.S. State Department says.
- A truce dating to 2022 between the Houthis and the government collapsed in July, after the group received an Iranian aircraft in Sanaa in defiance of Riyadh's authority over Yemen's airspace, touching off a run of attacks.
AP News reports that United Nations-backed experts cite possible U.S. war crimes in the Iran strikes, and the finding is carried the same way across the coverage. CNBC reports the mission found reasonable grounds to believe U.S. forces launched indiscriminate attacks that killed or injured civilians. The Age reports the target was the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, where Iranian officials put the dead above 150, about 120 of them schoolchildren. BBC reports a second strike on 28 February hit Lamerd, where tungsten pellets fell across a sports complex and the homes near it, killing at least 21 civilians, seven of them children. SMH.com.au carries the same account as The Age, and The New York Times reports the panel's conclusion that the school strike may have been a war crime.
The outlets corroborate the central mechanics of the finding rather than splitting on them. One account of the panel's work reports it found no information that the school served a military purpose, and that investigators traced the strike to intelligence about a senior Iranian commander that was never adequately checked, a failure they judged worse than negligence. A competing earlier account of the same strike, from sources citing a preliminary American assessment in March, holds the school was hit in error, possibly on dated intelligence identifying the area as an Iranian military installation. That is the one substantive difference in the coverage, and it matters because intent separates an error from a crime. The White House rejected the panel's conclusion, with spokesperson Anna Kelly saying "The only party in this conflict that has committed war crimes is the Iranian regime."
The panel also turned on Tehran. BBC reports the experts' conclusion that the January crackdown on protests against the government amounted to crimes against humanity by Iranian authorities, murder, torture and arbitrary detention among them, and that security forces went into healthcare facilities and arrested demonstrators who had been wounded. Around the findings, CBS News reports Trump said Wednesday that Iran wanted a deal, adding: "Hopefully we are towards the end of the war." What is settled is the pair of strikes, the civilian deaths, the panel's legal conclusion, and the crackdown findings. What is not settled is the death tolls and how the school came to be hit.
In a Thursday statement, the finding mission said: "Civilians in Iran are caught between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government and the nation's deadly conflict with the United States and Israel,"
the finding mission
Still developing
Tehran is yet to comment on the findings by the time of draft. The panel finds the toll probably higher than the official figures.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- BBC — UN experts say grounds to believe US committed war crimes in Iran strikes
- CBS News — Iran War Updates: U.N. panel cites possible U.S. war crimes as Trump again says Iran wants a deal
- CNBC — UN mission finds evidence signaling U.S. war crimes in Iran; Washington rejects report
- The Age — US-Iran war: UN-backed experts cite possible US war crimes in Iran strikes, and Tehran crimes against humanity - The Age
- SMH.com.au — US-Iran war: UN-backed experts cite possible US war crimes in Iran strikes, and Tehran crimes against humanity - SMH.com.au
- AP News — UN-backed experts cite possible US war crimes in Iran strikes
Toggle read the full reports of 5 of the 7 outlets counted on this event. The other 2 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.