A United Nations-backed investigation has concluded there are "reasonable grounds" to believe United States forces committed war crimes when they struck a primary school and a sports centre in Iran last February, killing well over 170 people. The findings, released Thursday by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, land in a report headed for the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The worst single strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the southern city of Minab, killing more than 150 people, including an estimated 120 schoolchildren. Investigators say the US acted on unverified intelligence that a senior Iranian military commander was inside, and never confirmed the building's status before firing. A second strike on a sports centre in Lamerd killed or injured 22 civilians and damaged a nearby school and homes, according to the mission's report. U.S. Central Command has denied carrying out that particular strike.

"Acting Recklessly"

The mission did not mince words on the Minab attack, finding no evidence the school was being used for any military purpose.

"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."

Investigators classified both incidents as indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure amounting to war crimes under international law. The strikes were part of a wider air campaign the US launched against Iran in February, a conflict that also triggered massive unrest inside the Islamic Republic.

That unrest cuts both ways in the report. The same mission found Iranian authorities responsible for crimes against humanity in their crackdown on nationwide protests that began in late December, documenting unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and severe restrictions on free expression. Tehran's own official toll from the crackdown stands at 3,038 killed and roughly 25,000 injured, though investigators believe the real numbers are "likely far higher," according to reporting from CBC News.

Neither Washington nor Tehran has formally responded to the new report. Iranian officials have long dismissed accusations of systematic rights abuses, instead blaming "terrorists and rioters" they say were backed by the US and Israel. The Pentagon has previously insisted its operations in Iran complied with the laws of armed conflict, and President Trump said in June that "nobody" had purposefully targeted a girls' school. The Pentagon opened its own review of the Minab strike months ago but has yet to release any findings.

The fact-finding mission has no power to prosecute anyone itself. Its findings now go to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where member states could push for referrals to the International Criminal Court, targeted sanctions, or further independent investigation — though any such move would likely face fierce resistance from Washington. For families in Minab and Lamerd still burying their dead, the report is the first formal international acknowledgment of what happened to them, even if it comes with no guarantee anyone will ever answer for it.