124. IHL prohibits directing attacks against civilian objects and provides for the obligation
to distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives. The Mission concluded that
when identifying and directing its attack against the primary school in Minab, whose civilian
nature is apparent, the U.S. failed in its obligation to do everything feasible to verify that it
was a military objective. Updating targeting information and acting upon such information
falls within the category of feasible precautions an attacking party is required to take under
IHL. Thus, the strikes are a violation of the obligation to distinguish between civilian objects
and military objectives and the prohibition of making civilian objects the object of an attack,
as well as the principle of precaution.
125. Furthermore, the Mission concluded that when targeting the school building, the U.S
acted wilfully, that is with the requisite mental element of recklessness (dolus eventualis).
Taking into account the U.S. Government's deprioritisation of civilian harm mitigation and
of compliance with IHL; expressed through public statements by senior U.S. leadership,
including the President and the Secretary of Defense, which dismiss binding obligations
under IHL, including ahead of and in relation to the armed conflict in Iran; the apparent
existence of and reliance on outdated targeting data; and the multiple features readily
identifying the structure as an educational facility for young children, which were publicly
available prior to the airstrike, the Mission considers that the U.S.'s failure to update
information in relation to the school in its targeting databases and to verify that the building
was a military objective before launching the attack 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.
126. Based on the available evidence, which does not include responses by the U.S. to the
Mission's requests for information, or a full and public disclosure by the U.S of the outcomes
of its internal investigation into the airstrike on the school, the Mission finds reasonable
grounds to believe that the U.S. committed the war crime of launching an indiscriminate
attack resulting in loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects.
