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The 2026 Iran War

All documented incidents related to the US-Israel military campaign against Iran launched February 28, 2026, including strikes on civilians, hospitals, cultural heritage, and the crime of aggression.

12 records · Last updated April 7, 2026

This collection groups the war crime allegations arising from Operation Epic Fury, from the initial strikes through the ongoing conflict.

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Updated April 7, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Trump Issues Ultimatum: 'A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight' Unless Iran Capitulates

Trump's explicit threats to destroy all civilian infrastructure in Iran — every bridge, every power plant — with the stated goal of ensuring Iran 'could literally never rebuild as a nation again' constitute textbook threats of indiscriminate attack, a war crime under the Rome Statute and customary IHL.

  • Trump stated 'Every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o'clock tomorrow night, every power plant will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again. Complete demolition, and it will happen over a period of four hours.'
  • Trump warned 'a whole civilization will die tonight' unless Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday 8 PM ET deadline.
  • Earlier, Trump stated: 'I could take out power plants that create the electricity, that create the water… We could do things that would be so bad they could literally never rebuild as a nation again.'
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Iran warcivilian infrastructureindiscriminate attackwar crime
Updated April 7, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

U.S. Double-Tap Strike Destroys Iran's B1 Bridge, Killing Civilians on Nowruz Holiday

US forces destroyed Iran's landmark B1 bridge near Karaj in a double-tap strike during Nowruz holiday celebrations, killing 8 civilians and wounding 95. The bridge — 176 meters tall and 1,050 meters long — was under construction and had never been used for any military purpose. The strike marked the first direct hit on major civilian infrastructure following Trump's 'Stone Ages' threats.

  • On April 2, 2026, US forces destroyed the B1 bridge near Karaj, west of Tehran — Iran's most complex engineering project, standing 176 meters high and stretching 1,050 meters long with an 'extradosed' bridge system.
  • The strike used a double-tap tactic: bombing the same location twice, killing first responders and bystanders who rushed to help after the initial strike. Eight people were killed and 95 wounded.
  • Victims were civilians picnicking under the bridge during Nowruz/Day of Nature (Sizdah Bedar) celebrations — a major national holiday when Iranian families gather outdoors.
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Iran warB1 bridgecivilian infrastructureNowruz
Updated April 7, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

U.S. Strikes on Iran's Kharg Island Oil Export Hub

U.S. military strikes on Kharg Island — Iran's primary oil export facility handling 90% of crude exports — constitute attacks on critical civilian economic infrastructure. Combined with explicit threats to destroy the entire island, these strikes raise serious questions under the proportionality and distinction principles of international humanitarian law.

  • The U.S. carried out strikes on Iran's Kharg Island, a small coral island in the northern Persian Gulf responsible for handling approximately 90% of Iran's crude oil exports with a loading capacity of roughly 7 million barrels per day.
  • While the U.S. claims it targeted 'military targets' on the island, the strikes risk catastrophic damage to civilian economic infrastructure that Iran's population depends on for revenue and survival.
  • President Trump explicitly threatened to 'completely obliterate' Kharg Island if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, escalating rhetoric beyond any claimed military necessity.
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Iran warKharg Islandoil infrastructurecivilian infrastructure
Updated April 7, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Trump Threats to Obliterate Iran's Civilian Power Infrastructure

Trump's explicit threat to destroy Iran's civilian power infrastructure constitutes a per se violation of international humanitarian law. The threats escalated from 'obliterate' to a promise of 'complete demolition' of all civilian infrastructure. Combined with 3,400+ killed including 1,600+ civilians, this represents a confirmed war crime classification.

  • Trump explicitly threatened to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants, which Amnesty International assessed as a 'threat to commit war crimes' -- intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure is a per se violation of IHL.
  • As of March 21, 2026, the Iran war has killed at least 5,900 people including 595 documented civilians, according to the Hengaw Documentation Center.
  • The threat targets infrastructure essential to the survival of Iran's civilian population (hospitals, water treatment, food storage all depend on electrical power), invoking Additional Protocol I Article 54 protections.
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Iran warcivilian infrastructurepower plantswar crimes
Updated April 6, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights Violation Reported record

F-15E Shot Down Over Iran: Massive Rescue Operation Raises Escalation and Press Freedom Concerns

The shootdown of a US F-15E over Iran and the massive rescue operation that followed document the intensity and cost of the 2026 Iran war. The rescue itself was a legitimate military operation, but Trump's threat to jail journalists who covered it raises serious press freedom concerns, and the scale of the operation — including abandoned US aircraft inside Iran — illustrates the escalatory trajectory of the conflict.

  • On April 3, 2026, a US F-15E Strike Eagle of the 494th Fighter Squadron was shot down over the interior of Iran.
  • A 36-hour race ensued to locate and extract the weapons systems officer before Iranian forces could capture him. He was found in a mountain crevice.
  • The US deployed 150+ aircraft and hundreds of ground troops deep into Iranian territory, constructing an improvised airfield (FARP) inside Iran to support the operation.
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Iran warF-15rescue operationpress freedom
Updated April 5, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Repeated Strikes Near Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant Risk Radioactive Catastrophe

Repeated strikes near Bushehr nuclear power plant violate Additional Protocol I Article 56's specific protection of nuclear electrical generating stations. Even without a radiation release, strikes on or near an active nuclear reactor in a city of 250,000 constitute reckless endangerment of the civilian population and violate the prohibition on disproportionate attacks under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(iv).

  • Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant has been struck by projectiles at least four times since the war began on February 28, 2026.
  • One security guard was killed and a side building was damaged in the April 4 strike.
  • The IAEA confirmed no increase in radiation levels after the latest strike but its Director General expressed 'deep concern' and stated nuclear plant sites 'must never be attacked.'
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Iran warBushehrnuclear power plantIAEA
Updated March 26, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Attacks on Iranian Healthcare Facilities: WHO Verifies 18 Strikes on Hospitals and Medical Infrastructure

A sustained pattern of strikes on Iranian hospitals, ambulances, and medical infrastructure has killed healthcare workers and forced the evacuation of six hospitals. The WHO has verified 18 attacks on health sites, documenting systematic damage to protected medical facilities including Gandhi Hospital and Iranian Red Crescent centers.

  • WHO has verified 18 attacks on healthcare facilities in Iran since the war began on February 28, 2026, with at least 8 medical workers killed and 55 wounded.
  • Six hospitals have been evacuated, 29 clinical facilities damaged, and 10 rendered inactive. Patients required evacuation from seven additional facilities.
  • Strikes have hit Gandhi Hospital in Tehran, Iranian Red Crescent facilities near Khatam al-Anbiya Hospital, and at least 9 Red Crescent centres across the country.
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hospital attackshealthcareGeneva ConventionsIran war
Updated March 25, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Defense Secretary Hegseth Declares 'No Quarter, No Mercy' for Iran

The US Defense Secretary's public declaration that no quarter would be given to Iran constitutes a textbook war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xii), which criminalizes 'declaring that no quarter will be given.' This prohibition is among the oldest in the laws of war.

  • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly declared there would be 'no quarter, no mercy' for Iran during the 2026 Iran war.
  • Declaring that no quarter will be given is explicitly listed as a war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xii). It is a per se violation — the declaration itself is the crime, regardless of whether it is carried out.
  • The prohibition dates to at least the Lieber Code of 1863 and was reaffirmed at the Nuremberg trials. It is codified in the Hague Convention of 1907, Article 23(d).
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Iran warno quarterwar crimeRome Statute
Updated March 25, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Destruction of Iranian UNESCO World Heritage Sites in US-Israeli Airstrikes

US and Israeli strikes have damaged UNESCO World Heritage Sites and over 100 cultural heritage sites across Iran, including Golestan Palace, Isfahan's Naqsh-e Jahan Square complex, the 8th-century Jameh Mosque, and prehistoric sites dating to 63,000 BC. The destruction of cultural heritage during armed conflict is prohibited under the 1954 Hague Convention and constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute.

  • UNESCO documented at least four historic sites damaged by shockwaves from a March 10 strike alone. Iran's Ministry of Cultural Heritage reported at least 56 cultural sites, museums, and historical buildings damaged, with over 100 heritage sites impacted as bombing continued.
  • Golestan Palace in Tehran, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, suffered shattered glass from mirrored ceilings, broken archways, blown-out windows, and damaged glass-mosaic walls.
  • In Isfahan, damage was documented at the Safavid-era Abbasi Jame Mosque and Ali Qapu Palace in Naqsh-e Jahan Square, the Chehel Sotoun pavilion with its intricate frescoes and mosaics, and the 8th-century Jameh Mosque.
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Iran warcultural heritageUNESCOWorld Heritage
Updated March 25, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Sinking of IRIS Dena: USS Charlotte Torpedoes Iranian Frigate Off Sri Lanka

A US submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate returning from a peaceful international naval event, killing 87 sailors. The failure to rescue shipwrecked sailors violates the Second Geneva Convention's obligation to search for and collect the shipwrecked after an engagement.

  • The USS Charlotte torpedoed the IRIS Dena approximately 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka on March 4, 2026. The Iranian frigate was returning from India's International Fleet Review — a peaceful, internationally attended naval event.
  • Eighty-seven sailors were killed. The Sri Lanka Navy rescued 32 survivors.
  • US forces departed the area without attempting rescue of shipwrecked sailors, potentially violating Geneva Convention II Article 18, which requires parties to search for and collect the shipwrecked after each engagement.
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Iran warnaval warfareIRIS DenaUSS Charlotte
Updated March 25, 2026 Military Overreach
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Iran War: Crime of Aggression — War Launched Without Congressional Authorization

The United States launched a major war against Iran without congressional authorization, without a UN Security Council mandate, and while diplomatic channels remained open. Legal experts, the Brennan Center, and international law scholars have characterized the strikes as unconstitutional and as potentially meeting the definition of a crime of aggression — what the Nuremberg Tribunal called 'the supreme international crime.'

  • On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel launched nearly 900 airstrikes in 12 hours against Iran under 'Operation Epic Fury,' killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour, and dozens of other officials.
  • Approximately 170 civilians were killed when a missile struck a girls' school adjacent to a naval base in Minab, near Bandar Abbas.
  • The strikes were launched without congressional authorization, without a declaration of war, and without a UN Security Council mandate. The Brennan Center for Justice called the strikes unconstitutional.
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Iran warcrime of aggressioncongressional authorizationWar Powers Resolution
Updated March 25, 2026 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Minab School Strike: US Tomahawk Cruise Missile Kills 175-180 Schoolgirls

A Tomahawk cruise missile struck a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing up to 180 schoolchildren in one of the deadliest single incidents of civilian harm in the 2026 Iran war. Investigations by the New York Times, CBC, NPR, and BBC Verify confirmed US responsibility.

  • A US Tomahawk cruise missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, Iran, on February 28, 2026, killing between 175 and 180 people — mostly schoolgirls aged 7 to 12.
  • The school was 'triple-tapped' — struck three distinct times. Analysis showed missiles hit a nearby military base and the school but bypassed a medical clinic between them, indicating deliberate coordinate selection.
  • Independent investigations by the New York Times, CBC, NPR, and BBC Verify all concluded a US Tomahawk cruise missile was responsible.
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Iran warschool strikecivilian casualtiesTomahawk missile