JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - A deadly US military strike on an elementary school in Iran at the beginning of the Middle East war is a war crime, an Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran has confirmed.
In a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, the mission concluded that there are 'reasonable grounds' to believe that the United States committed 'war crimes' in the context of its ongoing conflict with Iran.
Following the attacks launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, the mission found 'reasonable grounds to believe that the United States committed a war crime by launching indiscriminate attacks that killed or injured civilians or damaged civilian objects.'
More than 150 people, including 120 schoolchildren, were killed in an attack with a Tomahawk missile targeting the clearly identifiable Tree of Tayyiba Elementary School in Minab, in southern Iran.
The U.S. Government has not yet released the results of its own investigation into the incident.
Another air strike in which precision missiles launched clouds of tungsten pellets over a clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area in Lamard killed 22 civilians.
The UN mission urged both Iran and the United States to immediately cease 'all violations and crimes,' provide full compensation to the victims, and ensure that such acts are not repeated.
The independent experts - who are not UN staff and do not represent any organization - reiterated the UN's call to all combatants to immediately cease hostilities and work towards a permanent peace.
'They should also ensure that allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by all parties are independently investigated and those responsible held to account,' the report reads.
The report also concluded that killings by Iranian security forces 'occurred on a massive scale in all provinces' of the country during the Government's violent crackdown on mass protests that stretched from last year into this year.
The mission also reported that at least 221 children - some as young as two years old - were killed and that security forces attacked health care facilities, 'beating and arresting wounded protesters and arresting some health care workers, discouraging victims from seeking life-saving care'.
The mission added that tens of thousands of people were subjected to arbitrary detention, where they faced 'torture, solitary confinement and denial of legal advice, while families were left without any information about the whereabouts of their loved ones, amid circumstances that raise concerns about enforced disappearances.'
The mission noted the execution of at least 29 men in connection with the protests following summary trials and warned that more than 70 people, including five women and three boys, still face imminent risk of execution.
The report concluded that 'many of these grave violations amount to crimes against humanity - including murder, imprisonment, torture and other inhumane acts committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians.'
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