UN mission finds grounds to believe US committed war crimes in Iran, and Tehran crimes against humanity

GENEVA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A UN fact-finding mission on Iran said on Thursday it had reasonable grounds to believe the United States was behind two military strikes on a school and sports facility in Iran in February, and that these constituted war crimes.

It also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

The findings in a new report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, examined U.S. conduct during the Iran war that began in February and the Iranian government's response to nationwide unrest that began in late December.

The Pentagon declined to comment on a report conducted by an outside organization.

"Our investigation remains ongoing, and we have nothing to announce at the moment," it said in a statement. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in response to the report that the UN Human Rights Council had "accomplished nothing for human rights," adding that Iran was the only party in the current conflict that had committed war crimes.

The Iranian permanent mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

U.S. officials have previously said military operations are conducted in accordance with the law of armed conflict, while Iran has consistently rejected allegations of systematic rights violations.

UN Fact-Finding missions are investigative, not judicial bodies, and therefore do not initiate any criminal cases. Their findings, however, can be used in criminal investigations by national courts or international tribunals such as the International Criminal Court. States will discuss the findings of the report when it is presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.‌

The UN experts said they found reasonable grounds to believe U.S. forces were responsible for an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the city of Minab, where more than 150 people were killed, including around 120 schoolchildren, according to Iranian officials.

The attack constituted an indiscriminate attack causing civilian deaths and damage to civilian infrastructure, amounting to a war crime under international law, the mission concluded.

According to the report, the U.S. failure to update information in relation to the school, which was adjacent to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval complex, in its targeting databases and to confirm the building was a military objective amounted to more than mere negligence.

"Rather, the U.S. directed the strikes at the building of the school while being aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object and acting recklessly as regards the possibility that this would happen."

In June U.S. President Donald Trump said that "nobody" purposefully attacked a girls' school in ​Iran in February, citing an investigation into the incident. Reuters first ‌reported that an initial internal U.S. military investigation showed U.S. forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran.

The Pentagon has ​since elevated the probe but it has not published any ​preliminary findings.