UN News carries the Iran inquiry's findings on Washington and Tehran; Shargh's opening carries only Washington's
A UN fact-finding mission reported on both the United States and Iran's government. UN News carries both findings. The opening lines of Shargh's report carry only the one against the US. We could not read the rest of the Shargh article.
One inquiry, two findings. UN News reports on 17 September that the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran found two things. It says Iranian civilians suffered "crimes against humanity committed by their government". It also says there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed "war crimes".
What each report carries.
| UN News | Shargh (opening lines only) | |
|---|---|---|
| Finding against the US | Yes: "reasonable grounds", "war crimes" | Yes: the strike on a school in Minab "could amount to a war crime" |
| Finding against Iran's government | Yes: "crimes against humanity" | Not in the text we hold |
| Headline names | The US only | The US leaving the Human Rights Council |
| US leaves the Council | Not mentioned | Yes, "a day after" the finding |
One report hedges the two findings differently. UN News says the mission "confirmed" the violations by Iran's government. In the same sentence, the finding against the US keeps the "reasonable grounds" hedge. Two separate readings of the text found the same thing.
Neither names the dead. Neither report names or counts anyone killed, at Minab or anywhere else.
Not settled. - Whether Shargh's full article carries the finding against Iran's government. We hold only its first sentence. - The US withdrawal and its timing. Only Shargh carries them. - The mission's own wording. We hold its findings only as the two outlets tell them. - How US or Israeli outlets covered it. We hold no report from either on the mission.
This story is about a UN inquiry that accused both the United States and Iran's government of grave crimes, and about how two outlets passed that on.
How it got here. The UN Human Rights Council is the body of member states in Geneva that examines human rights records. In November 2022 it set up the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran. That followed protests across Iran after Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian woman, died in the custody of the morality police in September 2022. The mission's first task was to examine how the state responded to those protests. The Council has kept it running since.
Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 revolution. Tension rose again after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel of 7 October 2023 and the war in Gaza that followed. That war drew in Iran's allies, and Iran and Israel fired on each other directly. In June 2025 Israel struck Iran, and the United States then bombed Iranian nuclear sites. UN News now describes an "ongoing conflict" between the United States and the Islamic Republic. Shargh reports that the mission looked at a US strike on a school in Minab, a city in Hormozgan province in Iran's south.
The actors. The mission is a panel of independent experts, not a court. Its findings carry no penalty, but courts and governments can draw on them later. UN News is the UN's own news service. Shargh is a daily newspaper published in Tehran. The United States left the Council in 2018 and rejoined in 2021. President Trump ordered it out again in February 2025.
What is at stake. A UN inquiry rarely finds war crimes by a permanent member of the Security Council. It is also rare for one report to hold a government responsible for crimes against its own people as well. Which of the two findings a reader hears shapes what they think the inquiry said.
Where it stands. Shargh reports that the United States formally left the Council a day after the findings. No other report we hold carries that.
What is being argued about
- What the UN fact-finding mission found against the United States
- What it found against Iran's own government
- Why one report hedges the two findings differently
- The US departure from the Human Rights Council, carried only by Shargh
Claims and verdicts
UN News
UN News
INT ·
official record · intergovernmental body
US likely committed war crimes against Iranian civilians: Independent experts
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at UN News →
What we have measured
Actors named Names both vetoing states and the sponsor, and says what the draft would have created ×1Asserted versus attributed share of women and children among the dead given with no source ×1Asserted vs attributed Israel named as acting, stated in the report's own voice ×1Asymmetric verb The Iranian government's crimes are 'confirmed'. The US finding is only 'reasonable grounds'. The two findings are weighted differently in one sentence. ×1
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Shargh
Shargh
🇮🇷IR ·
newspaper · independent
UN News
UN News
INT ·
official record · intergovernmental body
US likely committed war crimes against Iranian civilians: Independent experts
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at UN News →
What we have measured
Actors named Names both vetoing states and the sponsor, and says what the draft would have created ×1Asserted versus attributed share of women and children among the dead given with no source ×1Asserted vs attributed Israel named as acting, stated in the report's own voice ×1Asymmetric verb The Iranian government's crimes are 'confirmed'. The US finding is only 'reasonable grounds'. The two findings are weighted differently in one sentence. ×1
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Shargh
Shargh
🇮🇷IR ·
newspaper · independent
Shargh
Shargh
🇮🇷IR ·
newspaper · independent
Who wrote it
Coverage, outlet by outlet
Shargh
Shargh
🇮🇷IR ·
newspaper · independent
UN News
UN News
INT ·
official record · intergovernmental body
US likely committed war crimes against Iranian civilians: Independent experts
Open this report in The AI Times →
Read it at UN News →
What we have measured
Actors named Names both vetoing states and the sponsor, and says what the draft would have created ×1Asserted versus attributed share of women and children among the dead given with no source ×1Asserted vs attributed Israel named as acting, stated in the report's own voice ×1Asymmetric verb The Iranian government's crimes are 'confirmed'. The US finding is only 'reasonable grounds'. The two findings are weighted differently in one sentence. ×1
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— intergovernmental body
Haaretz
Haaretz
🇮🇱IL ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
A previous framing corrected the twelve-country statement described as ambiguously worded ×1Asserted flat The report states as fact that barring Arab parties is a standing ritual. ×1Asserted flat The report says ethnicity explains the different outcomes, in its own voice. ×1Asserted in the report's own voice Parties are characterised by what they are said to promise, unattributed, and the headline calls the result frightening. ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
Palestine TV · Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
🇵🇸PS ·
TV/radio · state-controlled
What we have measured
Asserted versus attributed recognition itself stated as fact ×1Attribution 'historic' attributed to the Palestinian ambassador ×1Dead counted, not named two dead are counted as 'citizens' and none are named; the wounded are not counted ×1Dead named Gives the dead man's full name and age. ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Ynet
Ynet
🇮🇱IL ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
A claim in the headline that the other reports very close to deciding the regime appears in one report only ×1Active voice The killers are the subject of the verbs 'beat' and 'burned'. ×1Active voice The killers are named as acting ×1Army's term, attributed the army names the target of its strikes, and no one on the other side is quoted ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
North Press Agency
North Press Agency
🇸🇾SY ·
wire · independent
What we have measured
Attribution the damage list is carried in full, attributed to the side claiming it ×1Single official source Uses the Saudi Press Agency's account: 'bilateral relations', with no mention of reconstruction or money. ×1What is at stake presents the stakes as trade and energy security; no ship, crew or price is counted ×1Which line is led with led by the legal instrument, naming the Security Council resolution by number ×1
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Al-Monitor
Al-Monitor
🇺🇸US/ME ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actor from anonymous officials Puts the IRGC at the trigger in a sentence sourc ×1Actor named Names the Director-General as the one who requested the dismissal ×1Actor named names Trump as the one who began the war, with Israel ×1Actor named names Israel as the actor in its military actions against the Palestinians ×1
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Tehran Times
Tehran Times
🇮🇷IR ·
newspaper · state-controlled
What we have measured
Asserted vs attributed headline states the seizure flat; the body attributes it to the claimant ×1Attribution the toll is attributed to a body that is described but not named ×1Headline against body headline states the seizure flat; the body attributes it to the IRGC ×1How the objectors are framed opposition is described as protesters speaking for civilians ×1
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Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
🇶🇦QA ·
TV/radio · state-funded international
What we have measured
Accusation attributed Cuba's charge is attributed to its foreign minister, not stated as fact ×1Actor named The headline names Israel as the actor and gives a count of three that includes a child. ×1Agency No actor is named for the detentions. The raids, not the soldiers, 'left' the town in lockdown ×1Agency Names Israel as the actor in the headline, in active voice ×1
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LBCI (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International)
LBCI (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International)
🇱🇧LB ·
TV/radio · independent
What we have measured
Active voice, actor named the Israeli army carried out the detonation ×1Actor framing Tehran calls the meeting. Iraq is the only other state named. ×1Actor left unnamed the strike in Iraqi waters has no one named as firing it — the source is "unknown" ×1Actor named names Israel as the one striking ×1
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The Times of Israel
The Times of Israel
🇮🇱IL ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Actorless in own voice The killing is passive with no shooter in the se ×1Headline carries the purpose The livestock and the army's reason are in the h ×1Headline frame The headline carries the military's word for the ×1Military words carried whole Both the label for the dead and the phrase for t ×1
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A
Al-Sabaah
Ma'an News Agency
Ma'an News Agency
🇵🇸PS ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Al-Mada
Al-Mada
🇮🇶IQ ·
newspaper · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
WAFA · Palestinian News & Information Agency
WAFA · Palestinian News & Information Agency
🇵🇸PS ·
state agency · state-controlled
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Al-Manar
Al-Manar
🇱🇧LB ·
TV/radio · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →
Middle East Eye
Middle East Eye
🇬🇧UK ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
How hard the claim is stated Its own body says the investigators did not attribute the network to the Emirati state — the qualification its headline drops. ×1How hard the claim is stated The body withdraws in one line the attribution its own headline makes ×1How deeply it is sourced Cites its own past reporting as the evidence for the claim in its own headline, and calls the evidence widespread in its own voice ×1How deeply it is sourced Offers its own past reporting as the evidence supporting the claim in its headline, inside the same sentence that carries the denial. ×1
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Ammon News
Ammon News
🇯🇴JO ·
digital · independent
What we have measured
Outlet profile in The AI Times →