GENEVA — Human rights experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council say they have found “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, including an attack on a primary school in the southern city of Minab, CBS News reported with the Associated Press at about 7:36 a.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. ABC News carried the same wire findings.

The findings come in a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, created by the Human Rights Council in 2022 and chaired by Bangladeshi jurist Sara Hossain. The report is to be submitted to the council in Geneva. The mission examined U.S. conduct during the Iran war that began in February and Iranian authorities’ response to nationwide unrest that started in late December.

In a statement quoted by CBS/AP and NBC News, the fact-finding team said: “Following the United States and Israeli attacks on 28 February, the mission found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects.”

Minab school strike

The mission said it found reasonable grounds to believe U.S. forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab. Iranian health officials and state media said about 150 to 170 people were killed — CBS cited roughly 170, most of them schoolgirls between the ages of 7 and 12; ABC and Reuters cited more than 150 dead, including about 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials.

Investigators said the school was a “clearly identifiable” civilian object and found no evidence it was being used for military purposes. According to reporting on the report, the United States relied on intelligence that was not adequately verified before the strike; the mission concluded U.S. forces acted recklessly as regards the substantial risk of striking a civilian object — “more than mere negligence,” ABC reported, quoting the experts.

A person briefed on a preliminary U.S. assessment told CBS News that the United States was “likely” responsible for the deadly Minab strike but did not intentionally target the school and may have hit it in error, possibly due to dated intelligence that wrongly identified the area as still part of an Iranian military installation. The Pentagon has elevated the probe but has not published preliminary findings. In June, President Donald Trump said that “nobody” purposefully attacked a girls’ school in Iran in February, citing an investigation into the incident.

Lamerd sports complex

The U.N.-backed team also alleged war crimes over a Feb. 28 missile strike that dispersed tungsten pellets over a “clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area” in Lamerd, CBS and NBC reported. The mission said 22 civilian men and women were killed. U.S. Central Command said in a March statement that U.S. forces did not launch any strikes into Lamerd on that day.

Iranian authorities and protests

The same mission found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests that erupted in late December, involving unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and severe restrictions on freedom of expression, ABC and Reuters reported. The team said killings by state security forces occurred on a “staggering scale.”

The Iranian and U.S. permanent missions in Geneva did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported. U.S. officials have previously said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict; Iran has consistently rejected allegations of systematic rights violations.

Dated Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026: UN HRC–created Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (chair Sara Hossain) finds “reasonable grounds” of U.S. war crimes in Feb. 28 Minab school and Lamerd sports-complex strikes; CENTCOM denies Lamerd strike; mission also alleges Iranian crimes against humanity in late-Dec protest crackdown — CBS/AP, ABC.

Sources