US investigates alleged missile strike on Iran wedding

The U.S. military is investigating Iranian Red Crescent reports that shrapnel from an American missile strike hit a wedding celebration in southern Iran, killing at least four people, including children, and wounding dozens more, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the strike hit a home in Kuhestak, in Sirik county on the Strait of Hormuz, where a family wedding was under way Tuesday. The humanitarian group reported at least four deaths and said 67 people were injured, according to the BBC. The Guardian reported that the Red Crescent said more than 50 people were wounded.

The four people killed were identified locally as Zarkhatoon Taheri, 50; Kolsum Mallahi Nazhdnia, 43; Mohammad Mallahi, 16; and Amirali Karimi, 4. Iranian state media said a fifth person, a 22-year-old woman, later died in hospital, the BBC reported.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the incident a “war crime.” U.S. missiles were fired the same day over what U.S. officials described as “attempted attacks” by Iran on American forces. A U.S. Central Command spokesperson said the military “never targets civilians.”

Asked at a White House briefing whether an American strike was responsible, Vance said he was “extremely sceptical” of the reports but confirmed an inquiry was under way.

“I will say that the Iranian state media has not been a very good scribe about what’s happened in the conflict thus far. So I’m extremely sceptical of this,” Vance said. “I know that we’re investigating.”

The Guardian reported that Vance also said, “What I can say with 100% confidence is that, unlike the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] IRGC, the United States never targets civilians in combat. We never will do that. We never have done that, and unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen.”

U.S. Central Command has said the broader strike package Tuesday night targeted Iranian air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and communications facilities, The Guardian reported. It did not specify whether the wedding venue was among the intended targets.

BBC Verify said it confirmed a video and two images taken Tuesday near Kuhestak’s coast showing a telecommunications tower being destroyed. Other videos from Tuesday and Wednesday showed severely damaged houses about 130 meters, or 427 feet, north of the tower. BBC Persian Forensics found the tower was about 112 meters, or 367 feet, from the house where the wedding was being held.

Iran launched fresh attacks on U.S. bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in response to the alleged strike, the BBC reported.

The confrontation between the United States and Iran has continued for more than half a year since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28. Vance said Thursday that the conflict, now in its seventh month, was not presently “a war,” according to The Guardian, drawing criticism from Democrats. Rep. Ro Khanna of California said in a video posted to X: “This is war.”

The Guardian reported that the conflict has led to the deaths of 18 U.S. service members and that U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged fire earlier this week, renewing fears of wider escalation. Iranian authorities have previously put the overall death toll from U.S. and Israeli strikes in the thousands, figures that outside observers, including U.S.-based monitoring groups, have broadly corroborated, The Guardian reported.