GENEVA – Civilians in Iran are caught between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own Government and the nation’s deadly conflict with the United States and Israel, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said today. In its latest report, the Mission also found reasonable grounds to believe that the United States committed war crimes during a pair of airstrikes which killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.
Submitted to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the report concluded that the Government’s violent repression of the 2025-2026 protests marked an unprecedented escalation from past crackdowns, marked by the widespread use of lethal force resulting in mass killings and injuries, and extensive arrests.
The Fact-Finding Mission found that killings by State security forces occurred on a staggering scale in all 31 provinces, with the highest death tolls reported in Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan, and Rasht. Security forces positioned themselves on rooftops and other elevated positions, firing assault rifles into crowds. In Karaj, they fired tear gas to trap demonstrators in narrow alleys before shooting at them. Protesters sustained severe wounds to the head, chest, and eyes from metal shotgun pellets, causing permanent blindness.
At least 221 children were reportedly killed, some as young as two years old. Security forces also attacked healthcare facilities, beating and arresting wounded protestors and arresting some healthcare workers, which deterred victims from seeking life-saving care.
The Government imposed a nationwide internet and communications blackout on 8 January, during the height of its violence against protesters. Lasting over five months, it was the longest nationwide shutdown on record and unlawfully blocked information and emergency coordination.
Tens of thousands of people were deprived of their liberty in large-scale arbitrary arrests and detention. Detainees faced torture, solitary confinement, and denial of legal counsel, while families were left in the dark regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones in circumstances raising concerns of enforced disappearances.
Iranian authorities compounded the suffering of families by delaying or refusing to release bodies. In multiple cases, officials demanded payments, forced relatives to sign false statements claiming that the victims were State agents, and restricted or threatened memorial and mourning ceremonies.
The Government of Iran then intensified its use of the death penalty against protesters. Between March and August 2026, at least 29 men were executed following expedited trials, five of them publicly, all in connection with the protests. More than 70 people, including five women and three boys, remain at imminent risk of execution.
The report concluded that many of these gross violations amount to crimes against humanity – including murder, imprisonment, torture, and other inhumane acts committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians.
Following the United States and Israeli attacks on 28 February, the 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 or damage to civilian objects.
These included Tomahawk missile strikes on the clearly identifiable Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab – which killed over 150 people, including approximately 120 girls and boys – and another airstrike where Precision Strike Missiles dispersed clouds of tungsten pellets over a clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing 22 civilian men and women.
The Fact-Finding Mission urged Iran and the US to immediately cease all violations and crimes, provide full reparations to victims, and guarantee non-repetition. The Mission further urged an immediate end to hostilities, renewed diplomatic action by all Member States for permanent peace, and third-state accountability through universal jurisdiction.
