The Islamic State group is committing genocide against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, according to a review of the conflict.
US Secretary of State John Kerry announced the review findings on Thursday and said the US would do everything it could to hold the militant group accountable.
He said: "In my judgement Daesh (IS) is responsible for genocide against groups... under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims.
"Naming these crimes is important, but what is essential is to stop them."
Officials have said the findings of the review do no obligate the US to take additional action against IS militants.
On Wednesday, the US State Department said Mr Kerry would miss a deadline of 17 March to complete the review.
But hours later officials said it had been finished.
It is only the second time that a US administration has declared that a genocide was being committed during an ongoing conflict.
The first was in 2004, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell determined that atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region constituted genocide.
Mr Powell reached that decision amid intense lobbying from human rights groups, but only after lawyers advised him that it would not obligate the US to act to stop it.
The US is involved in military strikes against IS and has helped to prevent incidents of ethnic cleansing, notably of Yazidis. Some have argued that a genocide determination would require additional US action in the region.
Officials said Mr Kerry determined whether IS targeting of Christians and other groups met the definition of genocide, which according to the UN Convention is "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".
Groups including the Catholic organisation Knights of Columbus had released reports last week documenting evidence which it claimed showed the legal standard for genocide had been met.
It comes after the House passed a non-binding resolution this week condemning IS atrocities as genocide.
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