White House rejects UN report alleging US war crimes findings over Minab school strike

The White House has rejected a UN human rights report that found ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran on February 28, including an attack on a school in the southern city of Minab. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly dismissed the findings and accused the UN Human Rights Council of having ‘accomplished nothing for human rights while spouting unserious nonsense for decades’, according to The Washington Post. Kelly also said the only party in the conflict to have committed war crimes was the Iranian government.

The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said the two US strikes killed at least 178 civilians. One of the attacks hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, where Iranian authorities reported more than 150 deaths, including around 120 schoolchildren. The mission concluded that the school was the intended point of impact and described the attack as an indiscriminate strike that caused civilian deaths and damaged civilian infrastructure. It said US forces failed to take adequate steps to verify that the building was a legitimate military objective before carrying out the attack.

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The second strike examined by the UN mission targeted a sports facility and residential area in Lamerd, killing civilians and damaging nearby infrastructure. The two incidents formed the basis for the mission's conclusion that there were reasonable grounds to believe war crimes had been committed. The United States has not publicly accepted responsibility for the Minab school attack. Earlier investigations by The Washington Post and other outlets found evidence pointing to US involvement.

A preliminary US assessment reported by CBS also indicated that American forces were likely responsible, while suggesting the school may have been struck because outdated intelligence incorrectly identified the area as a military site. A separate Washington Post investigation reported that the school had appeared on a US target list and may have been mistakenly identified as a military facility.

The UN mission's findings do not amount to a criminal judgment, and the fact-finding body does not have the authority to bring criminal prosecutions. Its report is due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for discussion. The same UN report also accused Iranian authorities of crimes against humanity during a crackdown on anti-government protests, including allegations of killings, torture and arbitrary detention.