US airstrikes on residential areas and other non-military targets in Iran constitute “war crimes” for which Washington must be held accountable, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told RT at a press briefing on Monday.
His remarks came after a US airstrike hit a residential neighborhood on Qeshm Island in Iran’s Hormozgan Province last week, leveling a family home and killing three people, including a two-year-old child.
Iran said the strike hit a densely populated working-class neighborhood, with footage from the scene appearing to support that claim. US Central Command, however, insisted it had targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) positions in retaliation for the force firing “multiple ballistic missiles” at US troops across the region earlier that week.
Baghaei was commenting in particular on a New York Times report claiming the neighborhood was struck by a 2,000-pound Mark 84 bomb – one of the largest conventional weapons in the US arsenal – citing analysis of videos, photographs, and satellite imagery.
“Unfortunately, this has become the American way of warfare,” Baghaei said, adding that it was not the first time the US had targeted Iranian civilians and non-military sites with heavy weaponry. “What the US has done in Qeshm, Minab, Lamerd, and elsewhere constitutes war crimes. Every state is not only entitled but obligated to hold those responsible accountable.”
He mentioned the infamous strike that came during the initial stage of the war in February, which destroyed the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing more than 170 people, most of them children. Washington continues to deny responsibility. Baghaei has previously said more than 600 schools and educational facilities were targeted across Iran during the conflict’s first month, including a school and sports hall in Lamerd, where at least 21 people were killed.
“Throughout these five months, such attacks have continued,” he said, citing repeated strikes on facilities “used exclusively for civilian purposes” as evidence of Washington’s “determination to dismantle the norms and principles of international law.”
“The international community, and every individual state, must recognize that they bear a responsibility in the face of these serious violations,” the senior official insisted. “We will use every available legal mechanism at the international level to ensure that the perpetrators and those responsible for these crimes are brought to justice.”
Last week’s strikes followed the collapse of a Pakistan-brokered interim agreement reached between Iran and the US in mid-June, with the two sides later accusing each other of violating its terms. Last Monday, US President Donald Trump claimed “very friendly negotiations” with Tehran were again underway, but within days, Washington resumed strikes, while Trump adopted increasingly aggressive rhetoric, promising to hit the country “very hard.”
CBS News earlier reported that the US and Israel had been preparing a major bombing campaign against Iran’s energy infrastructure over the weekend. In a Truth Social post on Saturday, however, Trump said he had agreed to requests from Tehran and several Middle Eastern countries to delay the attack because the “parameters” of a deal had been reached. Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said talks will begin on Monday.
Baghaei, however, insisted Tehran is “not currently having negotiations with the US” and said the only ongoing talks are with Oman on establishing a temporary safe shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway carrying around 20% of global oil and LNG trade that has been de facto closed by the conflict.
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