UN experts say US strikes in Iran may constitute war crimes

GENEVA (AP) – Human rights experts commissioned by the U.N.'s top human rights body say they have discovered "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including on a school in the southern city of Minab.

What happened

For context, the international fact-finding mission on Iran notes the findings center on a pair of airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.

At the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in February, at least one U.S. Missile hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, according to an Associated Press investigation. There has been no final accounting of what happened. Iranian state media have remarked 168 residents were killed in the strike, most of them children.

"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, " the fact-finding team remarked in an official note.

The bottom line

In short, UN experts say US strikes in Iran may constitute war crimes is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.