GENEVA: A UN fact-finding mission on Iran said on Thursday it has reasonable grounds to believe the United States was behind two military strikes on a school and a sports facility in Iran in February, and that these attacks constituted war crimes.
The findings, detailed in a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, examined the US military’s conduct during the Iran war that began in February. The report will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
UN experts said they found reasonable grounds to believe US forces were responsible for a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the city of Minab. The attack killed more than 150 people, including about 120 school children, according to Iranian officials.
The mission concluded the strike was an indiscriminateattack causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, amounting to a war crime under international law.
UN experts noted the schoolwas a clearly identifiable civilian object and found no evidence it was beingused for military purposes.
According to the report, the US failed to update its targeting databases with information regarding the school, which was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex.The failure to confirm the building was a military objective amounted to more than mere negligence, the report stated.
‘Rather, the US directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object and acting recklessly as regards the possibility that this would happen,’ the report said.
The UN experts reached a similar conclusion regarding a strike on a sports center in Lamerd. The report said the attack damaged nearby residential buildings and a school, killing and injuring 22 civilians. It concluded that the strike was indiscriminate and therefore constituted a war crime.
The US permanent missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. However, US officials have previously said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict.-Reuters