Iran’s Civilians Trapped Between State Repression and Deadly Strikes, UN Warns

Tens of thousands of people were subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention, with detainees facing torture, solitary confinement and denial of access to lawyers, the report said.

Civilians in Iran are facing violence from their own government and deadly attacks linked to the country's conflict with the United States and Israel, according to a new report from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran. Submitted to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the report describes a sweeping crackdown on the 2025–2026 protests and finds reasonable grounds to believe that the United States committed war crimes in two airstrikes that killed at least 178 civilians, including women and children.

The mission said the Iranian government's response to the protests represented an unprecedented escalation from earlier crackdowns, with mass killings, serious injuries and extensive arrests affecting communities across the country. Its findings describe families searching for detained relatives, wounded protesters afraid to seek medical care and bereaved parents facing restrictions on mourning, as the conflict added another threat to civilian lives.

Protest Crackdown Reached Every Province

State security forces killed protesters across all 31 provinces, with the highest death tolls reported in Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan and Rasht, the mission found. Officers fired assault rifles into crowds from rooftops and other elevated positions, and forces in Karaj used tear gas to trap demonstrators in narrow alleys before opening fire. Metal shotgun pellets caused severe injuries to protesters' heads, chests and eyes, leaving some permanently blind.

At least 221 children were reportedly killed, including children as young as two, according to the findings. Security forces attacked healthcare facilities, beat and arrested wounded protesters, and detained some healthcare workers, creating fear that discouraged injured people from seeking life-saving treatment. A nationwide internet and communications blackout imposed on 8 January lasted more than five months, which the mission described as the longest nationwide shutdown on record, unlawfully cutting access to information and disrupting emergency coordination during the crackdown.

Families Faced Detention, Executions and Forced Silence

Tens of thousands of people were subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention, with detainees facing torture, solitary confinement and denial of access to lawyers, the report said. Families were often unable to establish where their relatives were being held, raising concerns about enforced disappearances. Authorities delayed or refused to return bodies, demanded payments in multiple cases and forced some relatives to sign false statements identifying victims as state agents, adding pressure through threats and restrictions on funerals and memorial ceremonies.

The mission reported that at least 29 men were executed between March and August 2026 following expedited trials connected to the protests, including five who were executed publicly. More than 70 people, including five women and three boys, remained at imminent risk of execution. Investigators concluded that many of the violations amounted to crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture and other inhumane acts carried out as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians.

US Strikes Prompt War Crime Findings

Examining attacks following the United States and Israeli strikes on 28 February, the mission found reasonable grounds to believe that the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks. It identified Tomahawk missile strikes on the clearly identifiable Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, where more than 150 people were killed, including approximately 120 girls and boys. Another attack in Lamerd involved precision-strike missiles dispersing tungsten pellets over a clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area, killing 22 civilian men and women.

The mission urged Iran and the United States to immediately stop all violations and crimes, provide full reparations to victims and guarantee that such acts would not happen again. Its recommendations called for an immediate end to hostilities and renewed diplomatic efforts by all UN member states to secure lasting peace, alongside accountability efforts by other countries through universal jurisdiction, allowing serious international crimes to be pursued beyond the country where they occurred.