US-Israeli strikes on an Iranian school, university and civilian sites; UN war-crimes findings

Case

On Feb. 28, 2026, the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran ('Operation Epic Fury'), missiles hit a girls' primary school in Minab, killing at least 168-186 people, most of them children, and a second strike hit a sports center/residential area in Lamerd, killing 22 civilians. US military investigators found it likely US forces were responsible; a UN fact-finding mission later found reasonable grounds that the US committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks in both strikes. Iranian universities were also struck in the following weeks.

The Minab school strike (Feb. 28, 2026)
Two missile strikes in quick succession hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh ('The Good Tree') girls' primary school in Minab, southern Iran, on the war's first day, killing at least 168-186 people (Iranian state media/officials), most of them girls aged 7-12. US military investigators told Reuters (March 2026) it was likely US forces were responsible, though the investigation was not complete; independent investigations by Al Jazeera and Amnesty International said the attack was likely deliberate and probably used a US-made Tomahawk missile. Trump publicly denied US responsibility at the time.
Human Rights Watch found no evidence the school was used for military purposes and said even a nearby legitimate military target would not justify an attack expected to cause disproportionate civilian harm; it asked the US and Israeli militaries (March 2) and Iranian authorities (March 3) for information and called for a war-crimes investigation.

UN fact-finding mission findings (Sept. 2026)
A UN-backed international fact-finding mission found 'reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians' in both the Minab school strike (168+ deaths, per Iranian state media) and a second US strike the same day on a sports center and residential area in Lamerd that killed 22 civilians. The mission separately found Iranian security forces committed 'gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity' through 'violent repression' of protesters over the prior two years.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to AP's request for comment on the UN findings. Reporting also noted the Trump administration had cut about 90% of Defense Department teams responsible for reducing civilian casualties in military operations, and outdated targeting information reportedly contributed to the strike.

University strikes and broader civilian-target pattern
On March 28, 2026, the Iran University of Science and Technology was hit in what Iranian media described as targeted Israeli-US strikes; a day later a university in Isfahan was hit for a second time, wounding four staff. The IRGC said afterward it would retaliate against universities tied to the US and Israel across the Middle East.
Humanitarian organizations, including the International Federation for Human Rights, called for investigation into attacks on schools and hospitals, saying international law requires 'alleged violations -- including indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, deliberate targeting of civilians or civilian infrastructure, and attacks on medical facilities and schools' to be 'promptly, independently, and transparently investigated.' Total reported deaths across the region by early in the war included more than 1,300 in Iran, at least 570 in Lebanon, 15 in Israel, and additional deaths across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Competing death tolls inside Iran (Feb.-April 2026)
UN OCHA's April 16, 2026 update reported "at least 2,362 civilians killed and more than 32,314 injured" between Feb. 28 and April 7, about 3.2 million people displaced inside Iran, and more than 125,600 civilian buildings damaged (about 100,000 residential). The figures come from the Iranian Ministry of Health and the Iranian Red Crescent; the update does not say the UN verified them independently.
Other counts differ widely. The Iranian Ministry of Health later reported at least 3,468 deaths for Feb. 28 to April 8, including 376 children and 496 women. The US-based group HRANA documented 1,701 civilian deaths as of April 7, including at least 254 children. Hengaw, a human rights organization, counted 6,530 killed in the first 25 days, of whom 640 were civilians (130 children, 173 women) and 5,890 military or government forces, and later 7,650 total deaths over 40 days with 1,030 civilians. (Ministry, HRANA and 40-day Hengaw figures as compiled by the advocacy group NIAC.)
Why the numbers diverge: the counts cover different periods and different groups (civilians only, or military too), and each source has limits. Iran's near-total internet blackout and restricted press access hinder verification, and about 40% of bodies were initially unidentifiable. Hengaw says Iranian security institutions "systematically conceal" casualty figures, and notes that of 167 school deaths claimed in Minab, only 58 victims had been identified after 25 days. Hengaw's own methodology is only summarized, and NIAC is an advocacy group.
What no source gives: a verified, independent total for Iranian, Lebanese, Israeli and Gulf deaths combined. The published counts run from low thousands of civilian deaths to several thousand total deaths in Iran alone during the first six weeks, and the war continued after those counts were taken.

Reported deaths across the region (as of June 10, 2026)
Al Jazeera's tracker, compiling national health ministries and authorities, listed as of June 10, 2026: Iran 3,468 killed and more than 26,500 injured since Feb. 28; Lebanon 3,696 killed and 11,413 injured since Israel renewed attacks on March 18; Israel at least 26 killed and 7,835 wounded; Iraq 118 killed; the United States 13 combat-related deaths across the region plus one from a health-related incident, with 381 injured.
The same tracker lists deaths from Iranian strikes on Gulf states: UAE 12, Kuwait 7, Bahrain 3, Saudi Arabia 3 and Oman 3, 28 in all across those five countries. Jordan and Qatar reported injuries but no deaths.
Adding those official figures gives roughly 7,350 reported deaths across the region as of June 10 (the site's own sum, not a published total). It is a floor: the Iran figure is the health ministry's and Hengaw's counts are higher, each country counts differently, and the war continued after that date.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported 8,920 deaths and 30,559 injuries from Oct. 8, 2023 to Sept. 1, 2026. That total includes the earlier Israel-Hezbollah conflict, so it cannot be read as the Iran war's toll in Lebanon.
What is missing: no source found gives a verified post-June regional total, and no independent body has audited the ministry figures. A tertiary aggregator reports an overall range of about 7,500 to more than 10,000 deaths as of the April ceasefire, but its Gulf figures conflict with Al Jazeera's, so the site does not rely on it.

Note
U.S. officials say they do not target civilians and an investigation is pending, and death tolls vary by source (150 to 186).

Sources
[1] CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/middleeast/us-strike-iran-school-war-crime-un-intl-hnk)
[2] Reuters via Malay Mail (https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2026/03/06/us-investigators-believe-american-military-likely-responsible-for-deadly-strike-on-iranian-girls-school/211516)
[3] NPR/AP (https://www.npr.org/2026/09/17/nx-s1-5972934/us-iran-war-un-report-alleged-war-crimes)
[4] HRW (https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/03/07/us/israel-investigate-iran-school-attack-as-a-war-crime)
[5] Yahoo/ABC News (https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/humanitarian-aid-groups-call-probe-214314702.html)
[6] Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/3/questions-over-minab-girls-school-strike-as-israel-us-deny-involvement)
[7] CFR (https://www.cfr.org/articles/report-says-u-s-struck-iran-school)
[8] UN OCHA (via ReliefWeb) — Islamic Republic of Iran Humanitarian Update No. 3, 16 April 2026 (https://reliefweb.int/report/iran-islamic-republic/islamic-republic-iran-humanitarian-update-no-03-16-april-2026) · 2026-04-16
[9] NIAC — Civilian casualties and housing damage in Iran (compares Iranian ministry, HRANA, Hengaw and UN figures) (https://insights.niacouncil.org/p/civilian-casualties-and-housing-damage) · 2026-07
[10] Hengaw Organization for Human Rights — seventh report on the first 25 days of the war (https://hengaw.net/en/reports-and-statistics-1/2026/03/article-12-1) · 2026-03
[11] Al Jazeera — US-Israel attacks on Iran: death toll and injuries live tracker (figures as of June 10, 2026) (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/1/us-israel-attacks-on-iran-death-toll-and-injuries-live-tracker) · 2026-06-10
[12] L'Orient Today — Since October 2023, Israel has killed nearly 9,000 people in Lebanon (Lebanese Health Ministry) (https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1546268/since-october-2023-israel-has-killed-nearly-9-000-people-and-injured-more-than-30-000-others-in-lebanon.html) · 2026-09-01

Connections

Same context — AI-generated disinformation and deepfakes on Truth Social
Trump posted a fabricated AI video of a strike on Iran's Kharg Island that never happened during the same Iran war in which the real Minab school strike occurred and was initially denied by Trump.

Same context — Hegseth's Pentagon undercounting/concealing US casualties in the Iran war
Both concern transparency and accountability failures around the same US-Israeli war on Iran launched Feb. 28, 2026 ('Operation Epic Fury') — one about concealing US military deaths, the other about US strikes killing Iranian civilians including children.

Related — Iran war oil shock: record oil profits, higher prices for everyone else
Same war: the economic side of the conflict.

Same context — IRGC's Sept. 29, 2026 open letter to the American people
The letter centers the Minab school strike and calls for accountability; this entry documents the strike and the U.N. war-crimes findings.

Same context — Jared Kushner as U.S. special envoy: Affinity Partners' Gulf fundraising and Israeli war-linked holdings during the Iran war (2025-2026)
Kushner was a negotiator before and during the Iran war, and Trump has said Kushner advised him to strike first; that entry covers the war itself.