UN report accuses US of possible war crimes in Iran

A UN commission of inquiry accuses the USA of possible war crimes in Iran. The independent UN mission for Iran said there were sufficient reasons to believe that the US was responsible for two military strikes against a school and a sports facility in February.

The report is to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He examines the actions of the USA in the war that has been going on since February. The Iranian government's actions in the bloody suppression of the nationwide unrest were also examined.

According to the UN experts, there are sufficient reasons to believe that US forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in the city of Minab. According to Iranian information, more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren. This is a reckless attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure, which constitutes a war crime under international law.

According to the report, the school was next to a naval base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The fact that the US did not update the relevant information in its target databases and did not check whether the building was a military target went beyond mere negligence. "Rather, the United States directed the attacks against the school building despite being aware of the significant risk of hitting a civilian object and recklessly accepting that this could happen," the UN report said.

US President Donald Trump said in June, citing a US military investigation, that no one intentionally attacked a girls' school in Iran in February. According to the report, the attack used outdated data from the US military intelligence agency DIA about the target environment.

According to official Iranian information, 22 people were killed in another attack on a sports complex in Lamerd in Fars province, the report said. International media had reported on the use of new US ammunition in the incident. When a rocket exploded in the air, tungsten shot was scattered widely. This attack in an inhabited area is also assessed as a possible war crime in the UN report.

With regard to human rights violations in Iran, the UN mission noted that the authorities there had systematically taken action against civilians during the protests from the end of December. These included unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances.

Human rights groups say scores of innocent bystanders were killed in the most serious crackdown on protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The regime in Tehran blames "terrorists and insurgents" supported by the US and Israel for the unrest.

The UN commission was unable to independently verify the number of victims, but assumes that the actual number of victims is far higher than the official figures of 3,038 dead and 25,000 injured. The Iranian government's response represents a significant escalation in the suppression of dissent, the report said. Iran has always rejected allegations of systematic human rights violations.