Friday, September 18, 2026
UN experts say US strikes in Iran may be war crimes
Three UN experts say there are reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in two February strikes in Iran. One hit a primary school in Minab, killing at least 156 people, 120 of them children, local officials say. The other hit a sports complex in Lamerd. The US says it is investigating Minab and denies striking Lamerd.
In a war far away, a missile hit a school in Iran and many children died. Experts who work for the United Nations say the American military fired it and broke the rules of war. Wars have rules, the way a playground does, and someone checks whether they were followed. You are safe here, and the grown-ups are working out what happened.
Why it worksIf a five-year-old has already heard this, the thing to hand them is not the number of children. It is that wars have rules and somebody checks. A playground has rules and somebody checks, so the shape is one they own. The script ends on safe and on grown-ups working it out. Say both, slowly.
- “Did our country do something bad?”
- Some experts say the US broke the rules of war. The US says it is still checking what happened. The grown-ups are sorting it out.
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Wars have rules. One is that you check a target is military before you fire. Three UN experts say the US did not check before two strikes in Iran. The US denies one and is investigating the other. Like a referee reviewing a play: this is the review, not the ruling.
Why it worksThe distinction that matters at ten is between a review and a ruling, and it is the one adults skip. This age can hold an accusation without convicting on it, as long as you hand over the procedure, which is what the referee is doing in the script. Expect “did they do it?” Nobody has decided yet.
- “Are there rules in a war?”
- Yes. One is that you check a target is military before you hit it. The UN experts say the US didn’t.
- “What happens to the US now?”
- Nothing automatic. The report goes to the UN Human Rights Council. The US has not commented on it.
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Who judges a war crime? Three UN experts say there are reasonable grounds to believe the US committed two in Iran, one of them a strike on a school. The US never answered their questions. Who checks the checkers?
Why it worksWho judges a war crime, and what happens when the accused declines to answer? A teenager can sit with an unresolved accusation, which is most of what this story is. The script hands them the experts’ standard, reasonable grounds, and leaves the verdict alone. Ask what would settle it for them.
- “Who judges a war crime?”
- For now, these three experts. Their words are ’reasonable grounds to believe,’ not a verdict.
- “Didn’t Trump say it was a mistake?”
- In June he said ’nobody did that on purpose.’ The experts say the school was hit twice and was the intended target.
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Based on the headline: UN experts say US strikes in Iran may be war crimes