US Withdraws From UN Human Rights Council Amid Iran War Claims

By Staff, Agencies

The United States has formally withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council, one day after a UN fact-finding mission said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe US forces committed war crimes in two strikes on civilian sites in Iran.

The US State Department said Washington had ended its membership and participation in the council, accusing the body of promoting “anti-American rhetoric” and taking an overly accommodating approach toward governments it accused of repressing their populations.

The withdrawal came as the council holds its 63rd regular session in Geneva, which began on September 7 and is scheduled to continue through October 7.

The decision followed a report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran examining US conduct during the war that began on February 28, 2026.

The UN-backed investigators said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe US forces were responsible for two attacks that amounted to indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.

One incident involved a Tomahawk missile strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the southern city of Minab. More than 160 people were killed, including around 120 children.

Investigators said the school was clearly identifiable as a civilian facility and found no evidence that it was being used for military purposes at the time.

The second incident involved a US strike on a sports complex and nearby residential area in Lamerd, Fars province.

The investigators said precision missiles dispersed tungsten pellets across the area, killing 22 civilians and damaging residential buildings and the sports complex. They concluded that the attack was indiscriminate and constituted a war crime.

The report said the circumstances indicated that Washington acted while aware of a substantial risk of striking a civilian object, describing the conduct as going beyond mere negligence.

Washington rejected the findings, with the White House and State Department questioning their credibility. US Central Command separately denied conducting a strike in Lamerd on the date examined by the mission.

Independent weapons experts cited in the supplied report linked the Lamerd strike to the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).

A US official cited by The New York Times reportedly confirmed that a PrSM was used in the attack and that it was being tested in combat for the first time.

Lockheed Martin has promoted the weapon as a long-range, highly precise system, while the US military previously described its use in Iran as a “historic first.”