US-Israeli air strikes on three densely populated areas of Tehran in March may have amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday, calling for independent investigations
into the attacks.
The human rights group said at least 41 civilians were killed in strikes on the Niloufar, Resalat and Javadieh neighbourhoods between March 1 and 13. It said the attacks caused extensive damage to homes, businesses and other civilian buildings.
“The available evidence in Tehran points to a series of strikes using explosive weapons with wide area effects on security-related facilities within densely populated urban areas, with devastating and yet entirely predictable consequences for civilians,” Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said said in a statement.
The U.S./Israeli strikes in Tehran may constitute indiscriminate attacks and amount to war crimes. They must be the object of independent, impartial, effective and transparent investigations.https://t.co/l8Ih8FVFrD
— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) September 8, 2026
Amnesty flags civilian harm
Amnesty said its investigation found evidence that explosive weapons with wide-area effects were used in populated areas.
The group said the apparent targets included police stations and a facility belonging to an IRGC Basij battalion. While such sites may qualify as military objectives under international law, Amnesty said the scale of damage to nearby civilian areas raised serious concerns.
In Resalat, 16 civilians were killed after strikes damaged a Basij facility and three nearby buildings, including at least one residential property, the group said. At least 25 others were killed in strikes in Niloufar and Javadieh.
‘Devastating’ and predictable
Callamard said the available evidence pointed to attacks with “devastating and yet entirely predictable consequences for civilians”.
“The civilian death toll, the scale of destruction, the timing of the attacks, the impact on nearby civilian structures and the lack of effective advance warnings point to alarming failures by the U.S.-Israeli coalition to abide by the obligations to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm and spare civilian objects,” Callamard said, accusing the forces of failing to take sufficient precautions to minimise civilian harm.
She said the strikes “may constitute indiscriminate attacks and amount to war crimes” and called for independent, impartial and transparent investigations.
Amnesty said neither the US nor Israel had confirmed carrying out the three specific strikes, despite both announcing attacks on what they described as “regime” targets in Tehran.
