US suspected of Iran war crimes, UN investigators say

United Nations investigators said on Thursday that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes against civilians in Iran, while also accusing Iran's government of gross human rights violations against protesters.

In a report due to be presented to the Human Rights Council on Monday, the independent investigators urged the council's 47 member countries to press for an end to the war, accountability for war crimes and asylum for civilians fleeing abroad.

The investigators said that after US and Israeli attacks on February 28, they found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks that caused civilian deaths, injuries or damage to civilian objects.

They cited Tomahawk missile strikes on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, which they said killed more than 150 people, including about 120 children. They also cited an airstrike in Lamerd where they said precision strike missiles dispersed tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area, killing 22 civilians.

The report also said Iran's repression of domestic protests that began in late 2025 over the rising cost of living marked a significant escalation of a long-standing pattern of suppressing dissent.

The investigators said Iranian authorities stepped up the use of repressive laws, lethal force and the death penalty as a tool of intimidation and control. The report said state security forces killed protesters in all 31 provinces, reportedly including at least 221 children, attacked healthcare facilities and arrested tens of thousands of people.

Between March and August 2026, at least 29 men were executed after expedited trials connected to the protests, the report said. More than 70 others, including five women and three boys, remained at imminent risk of execution, according to the investigators.

The investigators urged Israel, the United States and Iran to “immediately cease hostilities” and called for alleged violations of international law by all three parties to be independently investigated.