ReportUN: US Strikes in Iran May Be War CrimesAired September 19, 2026 at 12:27 PM UTCWritten September 19, 2026 at 12:30 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:11Unappointed experts concluded the U.S.0:13strikes that killed at least 178 civilians in Iran may amount to war crimes.0:18It's the first independent legal assessment of U.S.0:20conduct in the Iran campaign, not from a court or the military, but from a UN0:25fact-finding body.0:26What happens now depends on two unanswered questions, where the second strike0:29happened and what the Pentagon's own unpublished probe found.0:33The case at the heart of the finding is a February 28 strike on a school in Manab.0:37A military base sits beside it.0:39The base may have been a legitimate target.0:42The school was not.0:43The experts said the strike was carried out against a US target list roughly a0:47decade old and never updated.0:49A list that failed to account for a school standing next to an installation.0:52The toll is a floor.0:54At least 178 civilians, including women and children, were killed across the two0:58strikes.0:59An attack that fails to distinguish based on stale or careless information or1:03without the assessment the law demands is indiscriminate and unlawful, and it is1:07unlawful even when the people who ordered it did not intend to kill civilians.1:12The legal standard here is recklessness.1:14An attack can be criminal not because those who ordered it set out to kill1:17civilians, but because it was conducted with disregard for the risk to them.1:21That is the standard the experts applied.1:23Proof that a violation is more likely than not, a lower bar than the proof a1:27criminal court would require before a conviction.1:30What is established is the finding itself.1:32What is not established is a second strike.1:34The report did not identify where it happened, when, or what it hit.1:38And the Pentagon's own investigation into these same events remains unpublished, so1:42the US military's account has never been made public.1:45Minab sits on Iran's southern coast.1:47The UN inquiry worked from outside, without cooperation from either Washington or1:52Tehran.1:53It could not compel records or testimony from either side.1:56Seven months separate the strike on the school from the experts' conclusion.1:59In between, the evidence was gathered and assessed entirely outside the US2:03military's own process.2:04The accountability question is where the finding collides with power.2:07The US State Department had not responded as of the findings release.2:11The Pentagon's own probe remains unpublished.2:13The International Criminal Court is the body formally able to prosecute individuals2:17for war crimes, but the United States is not a party to the court, and whether it2:21has jurisdiction at all is an open question.2:24The finding therefore lands as a documented, independent rebuke of U.S.2:28conduct that currently has no enforcement mechanism behind it.2:32The one U.S.2:32process that could either corroborate or contradict the experts' conclusion from2:36inside the military itself is the Pentagon probe, and its findings have not been2:40released.2:41So the answer to what happens next is not yet known, where the second strike2:44occurred and what the Pentagon's unpublished probe found remain the two facts that2:48will decide whether this finding leads anywhere.2:50Until the State Department responds and the Pentagon's findings are released, the UN2:54conclusion stands as the only accounting of what happened in Minib, and it records a2:58war crime standard met.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗