A British government official has sparked international controversy by declining to characterize the bombing of an Iranian girls’ school that killed 165 people, predominantly children, as a war crime, instead describing it as the “realities of war.
Courts Minister Sarah Sackman made the contentious remarks during a Sky News interview on Tuesday when confronted with emerging evidence about the February 28th attack on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab. The assault occurred during coordinated US-Israeli military operations against Iranian targets.
Recent investigative findings and newly released footage strongly indicate that a US Tomahawk missile struck the educational facility. When pressed for her assessment of the evidence, Minister Sackman responded: “You watch footage like that and what you see is the realities of war, and in particular the way that civilians right across the region are caught up in military conflict.”
The minister explicitly avoided legal classification of the incident, stating: “I’m not going to speculate on whether this is a war crime, but what it is is a war, and in that context devastating things can happen.” She did, however, criticize Iranian military actions while emphasizing the necessity for evidence-based judgments regarding international law violations.
Sackman’s comments have ignited fierce criticism from political figures and commentators. Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece asserted that the US and Israel were “in clear violation of international law,” while journalist Mehdi Hasan condemned the minister’s apparent double standard in exclusively criticizing Iran.
The diplomatic fallout occurs amid revelations that the United States has been utilizing British military installations, including RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, to launch bomber missions targeting Iranian positions. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has thus far resisted opposition calls for direct RAF involvement in strikes against Iran while refraining from condemning the US-Israeli offensive.
Tensions in the UK-US security partnership have further intensified due to Britain’s initial refusal to permit American forces to use the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia for operations against Iran. This diplomatic strain was reportedly discussed during a Sunday phone conversation between Starmer and US President Donald Trump, who has previously criticized the British leader as “unhelpful” and inadequate in comparison to Winston Churchill.