State Department rejects UN report finding 'reasonable grounds to believe' it committed war crimes in Iran
The State Department is pushing back on a UN-commissioned report that found there is "reasonable grounds to believe" the U.S. committed war crimes in Iran, including during a strike on a primary school in Minab.
"The Trump Administration formally withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council following the Council’s consistent failures to uphold its own 'values' as it pushes anti-American rhetoric and antisemitism, all while it appeases repressive regimes, thus making a mockery of the very 'rights' it claims to protect,” a State Department official said. "As such, we do not give credibility" to the findings of the report.
The official continued: “The protection of civilians is of the utmost importance to the U.S. We refer to the Department of War with respect to specific questions on U.S. operations.”
In regards to Minab, the report—which relies on open source reporting—concluded the attack on the school “went beyond 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,” the report stated.
The report also notes that investigators sent a request for information to the U.S. government, as well as requests for meetings, but that their requests went unanswered.
The fact-finding mission also concluded that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity, saying the number of casualties caused by the regime’s crackdown earlier this year could not be verified, but that it was likely “significantly higher” than figures reported by Iran’s government (3,038 killed, 25,000 injured.)
-ABC News' Shannon Kingston
