U.N.-backed experts allege U.S. war crimes in Iran

September 17, 2026 / 7:36 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Geneva — Human rights experts commissioned by the United Nation's top human rights body say they have found "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.

The international fact-finding mission on Iran says the findings center on a pair of airstrikes that killed scores of civilians, including women and children.

A preliminary U.S. assessment suggested that the United States was "likely" responsible for the deadly February attack on the school but did not intentionally target it and may have hit it in error, possibly due to the use of dated intelligence that wrongly identified the area as still part of an Iranian military installation, a person briefed on the preliminary intelligence told CBS News.

The Trump administration has not directly accepted responsibility or released findings of a Pentagon investigation into the attack on the school on the war's first day, using Tomahawk missiles.

Iranian health officials and state media said about 170 people were killed, most of them schoolgirls between the ages of 7 and 12.

"Following the United States and Israeli attacks on…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/