GENEVA, March 12, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The war in the Middle East is likely to result in worsening institutionalised repression of Iranian citizens, UN-mandated investigators probing rights abuses in Iran said Wednesday.

The United Nations' Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said civilians in the country were caught between ongoing armed hostilities and repression that has reached unprecedented levels, which may amount to crimes against humanity.

Iran's deepening human rights crisis "is likely to worsen in the wake of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and Iran's retaliatory strikes across the region", the mission said in a statement.

It said that over the past 11 months, it had identified "a clear pattern that is directly relevant to what we are seeing today in Iran".

"The protection of civilians, including detainees, becomes acutely precarious during armed conflict, and in the aftermath, state repression intensifies, particularly where as now, a connectivity and internet shutdown is imposed," the probe said.

The three-person mission is tasked with gathering and preserving evidence of rights violations in Iran.

The UN Human Rights Council created the high-level investigation into ongoing serious rights violations in Iran in November 2022, shocked by the deadly crackdown on widespread demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched the first wave of attacks in a war that has seen Iran strike targets in multiple countries around the Gulf.

"The human rights situation in Iran has been severely exacerbated by the US-Israeli air strikes since February 28," the report said.

"The Iranian population is now caught between a large-scale military campaign that may go on for weeks or months, and a government with a long record of gross human rights violations, after having barely emerged from a violent crackdown following the protests that began on December 28."

The mission called for an immediate cessation of attacks by all parties to prevent further civilian harm in Iran, and more broadly in the region.

- State-driven repression -

On Wednesday, the mission released its latest report to the council, covering the period from April 2025 to February 18 this year.

It said that well-established patterns of state-driven repression not only persisted, but evolved and deepened, particularly following the upsurge in nationwide protests that began on December 28.

"Security forces unleashed extensive lethal force -- including with assault rifles and heavy machine guns -- leading to a staggering number of deaths and injuries," the mission said.

During the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025, "in relation to the attack on Evin prison compound, the mission finds that Israel committed the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against a civilian object," the report said, noting that around 80 people were killed.

It also found that "many gross human rights violations by Iran amount to the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, gender persecution, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts".

It said these were committed "as part of a widespread and systematic attack" on civilian populations.