UN says US responsible for war crimes in Iran

A UN investigation on Iran has found strong reasons to believe that the United States carried out military strikes on the Minab Elementary School in Southern Iran in February.

The human rights experts working for the UN also connected the US to a strike on a sports facility in Iran during the same month. They said both attacks are considered war crimes.

These strikes caused the deaths of many civilians. PREMIUM TIMES reported that over 165 schoolgirls died after the attack on the elementary school. But the US has denied any responsibility for the attack and stated that it is still looking into it.

The recent report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran panel described the attack as a Tomahawk missile strike on a “clearly identifiable” school, according to Al Jazeera.

The report looked into the US’s actions during the Iran war that started in February. It will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The panel also identified a separate air strike where precision missiles released tungsten pellets over a “clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area” in the southern city of Lamerd.

“After the United States and Israeli attacks on 28 February, the mission found strong reasons to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks that led to loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” the fact-finding mission stated.

The mission also looked at how the Iranian government responded to protests that began in late December. This paper reported that the protests started because of a worsening economic crisis. The Iranian currency dropped to an all-time low against the US dollar, leading shopkeepers and bazaar traders in Tehran to go on strike. Eventually, the protests spread to 574 locations across all 31 provinces of Iran.

The protests started on 28 December and lasted for about 19 days. Iran later claimed that American and Israeli agents infiltrated the protests to target security officials. More than 3,000 people died, including hundreds of security officials, and over 10,000 people were arrested.

The UN mission stated that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their crackdown on the nationwide protests.

It accused the Iranian government of unlawful killings, torture, and persecution.

President Donald Trump had warned of potential US military action to help oppressed citizens in January, before starting a conflict that would lead to the deaths of thousands of Iranians and at least 13 US officials.