A United Nations fact-finding mission says it has found “reasonable grounds” for strong evidence of US involvement behind two military strikes on a school and a sports facility in Iran last February. The mission also said the strikes amount to war crimes. According to a report by the news agency AFP, the findings come from a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, which is due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The mission investigated two matters: US actions during the Iran war that began in February, and the Iranian government’s crackdown on the nationwide protests that began in late December. UN experts said they had found reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for the attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the city of Minab. More than 150 people were killed in that strike, around 120 of them schoolchildren. Mission members said the school was a clearly identifiable civilian facility, and that they found no evidence it was being used for any military purpose. UN experts reached a similar conclusion regarding a strike on a sports centre in the city of Lamerd.
Separately, the UN fact-finding mission also said Iranian authorities had committed crimes against humanity in suppressing the nationwide anti-government protests.