WASHINGTON — An explosion that ripped through a wedding celebration in southern Iran on Tuesday evening likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition and not a ricochet off another target, according to an analysis on Thursday by weapons experts who reviewed images and video verified by Reuters.The United States has not accepted responsibility for the incident. President Donald Trump’s administration is facing growing domestic public pressure to end a war that is weighing on his approval ratings ahead of crucial November midterm elections.US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was investigating the deadly strike on an Iranian wedding gathering earlier this week.Iranian state television on Thursday said that a 22-year-old woman had died in hospital following the strike that hit a home during a wedding, taking the total reported death toll to five. Iranian officials said that nearly 70 were wounded.Funeral-goers assembled in the late afternoon on Thursday outside the village of Kuhestak in Sirik County, along a stretch of the Strait of Hormuz coast that was hit by heavy US airstrikes late on Tuesday to mourn their loved ones.Vance told reporters on Thursday that the United States was looking into the incident. “We’re investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know,” he said.”If we do make mistakes, again, this is a big difference between us and Iran, when our military makes mistakes, they learn from them to try to get better from them,” Vance added.The US military said it was aware of the Iranian reports but it “never targets civilians”.A US official speaking on condition of anonymity said the government is looking at various scenarios related to the casualties at the wedding, including whether they were caused by a US strike, some sort of ricochet of an Iranian air defence missile, or an errant interceptor itself.Reuters shared video and images of the incident with four military weapons experts who said the damage was consistent with a direct hit, as opposed to secondary damage from a munition ricocheting off a different target.Three of the experts said the munition was likely a US weapon, rather than an errant Iranian air defense missile. One of the experts said the weapon may have simply missed its objective.Meanwhile, the Iranian Red Crescent Society has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Tuesday’s US bombing of the wedding party in Kuhestak.In a letter to the court on Wednesday, the humanitarian group said the attack warrants “an independent, impartial, thorough, and effective investigation” given the “civilian character of the location”.The strike, which took place at 9:30pm local time (18:00 GMT) on Tuesday, killed at least four people and wounded 67, the group said, warning that the number of deaths may increase “given the critical condition of some of the injured”.Those killed were two women and two children, aged four and 16. An Iranian official said most of the wounded were also women and children.The Red Crescent said the attack could amount to a “war crime”, noting that international law prohibits directing attacks against civilians or civilian objects, or launching a strike while knowing it could cause disproportionate civilian harm.The US Central Command said it was aware of the reports about the attack in Iranian media, but said it does not target civilians.Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the claim, with spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei citing past US strikes on civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. He noted on X that such attacks have also been portrayed in US television shows.“The reality is so horrifying that even American propaganda has never dared make the claim [the CENTCOM] is making today,” he wrote. “Sirik is not a story. The civilians are real. The victims are real.”Neither the US nor Iran are party to the ICC’s Rome Statute, meaning the court does not have automatic jurisdiction over either nation.But Dawn, a human rights group, has previously said Iran could still accept the court’s ad hoc jurisdiction over crimes committed on its territory from a specific date. “By filing such a declaration, set to the beginning of the war, Iran would grant the ICC jurisdiction over every strike on Iranian soil,” the group said.The strike in Kuhestak came as the US launched a wave of attacks on Iranian coastal areas near the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, accusing Tehran of attempting to launch strikes against US troops and commercial shipping in the waterway.Iran’s Ministry of Health said at least 18 people were killed in Tuesday’s strikes, while 142 were wounded.Iran’s envoy to the United Nations, Gholamhossein Darzi, called on the UN Security Council to denounce the Kuhestak attack.“The Islamic Republic strongly condemns this horrific and appalling crime,” he wrote, adding that “the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians, including children, constitutes a grave violation of the fundamental rules of international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime.”Iranian authorities say at least 3,468 people were killed in the initial phase of the US and Israel’s war, which began on February 28 and ended with a ceasefire on April 8. A second round of hostilities, from July 27 to August 24, killed a further 59 people and wounded 666.The deadliest single attack of the war, in terms of civilian casualties, destroyed an elementary school in Minab on the war’s first day. At least 156 people, including 120 children, were killed. A separate strike that day hit a sports hall in Lamerd, killing 21 people, including four children.Over more than six months of war, the US and Israel have also struck oil and gas facilities, fuel depots, steel and petrochemical factories, airports, ports, bridges, power installations, medical centres and water facilities across Iran.WASHINGTON — An explosion that ripped through a wedding celebration in southern Iran on Tuesday evening likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition and not a ricochet off another target, according to an analysis on Thursday by weapons experts who reviewed images and video verified by Reuters.The United States has not accepted responsibility for the incident. President Donald Trump’s administration is facing growing domestic public pressure to end a war that is weighing on his approval ratings ahead of crucial November midterm elections.US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was investigating the deadly strike on an Iranian wedding gathering earlier this week.Iranian state television on Thursday said that a 22-year-old woman had died in hospital following the strike that hit a home during a wedding, taking the total reported death toll to five. Iranian officials said that nearly 70 were wounded.Funeral-goers assembled in the late afternoon on Thursday outside the village of Kuhestak in Sirik County, along a stretch of the Strait of Hormuz coast that was hit by heavy US airstrikes late on Tuesday to mourn their loved ones.Vance told reporters on Thursday that the United States was looking into the incident. “We’re investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know,” he said.”If we do make mistakes, again, this is a big difference between us and Iran, when our military makes mistakes, they learn from them to try to get better from them,” Vance added.The US military said it was aware of the Iranian reports but it “never targets civilians”.A US official speaking on condition of anonymity said the government is looking at various scenarios related to the casualties at the wedding, including whether they were caused by a US strike, some sort of ricochet of an Iranian air defence missile, or an errant interceptor itself.Reuters shared video and images of the incident with four military weapons experts who said the damage was consistent with a direct hit, as opposed to secondary damage from a munition ricocheting off a different target.Three of the experts said the munition was likely a US weapon, rather than an errant Iranian air defense missile. One of the experts said the weapon may have simply missed its objective.Meanwhile, the Iranian Red Crescent Society has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Tuesday’s US bombing of the wedding party in Kuhestak.In a letter to the court on Wednesday, the humanitarian group said the attack warrants “an independent, impartial, thorough, and effective investigation” given the “civilian character of the location”.The strike, which took place at 9:30pm local time (18:00 GMT) on Tuesday, killed at least four people and wounded 67, the group said, warning that the number of deaths may increase “given the critical condition of some of the injured”.Those killed were two women and two children, aged four and 16. An Iranian official said most of the wounded were also women and children.The Red Crescent said the attack could amount to a “war crime”, noting that international law prohibits directing attacks against civilians or civilian objects, or launching a strike while knowing it could cause disproportionate civilian harm.The US Central Command said it was aware of the reports about the attack in Iranian media, but said it does not target civilians.Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the claim, with spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei citing past US strikes on civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. He noted on X that such attacks have also been portrayed in US television shows.“The reality is so horrifying that even American propaganda has never dared make the claim [the CENTCOM] is making today,” he wrote. “Sirik is not a story. The civilians are real. The victims are real.”Neither the US nor Iran are party to the ICC’s Rome Statute, meaning the court does not have automatic jurisdiction over either nation.But Dawn, a human rights group, has previously said Iran could still accept the court’s ad hoc jurisdiction over crimes committed on its territory from a specific date. “By filing such a declaration, set to the beginning of the war, Iran would grant the ICC jurisdiction over every strike on Iranian soil,” the group said.The strike in Kuhestak came as the US launched a wave of attacks on Iranian coastal areas near the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, accusing Tehran of attempting to launch strikes against US troops and commercial shipping in the waterway.Iran’s Ministry of Health said at least 18 people were killed in Tuesday’s strikes, while 142 were wounded.Iran’s envoy to the United Nations, Gholamhossein Darzi, called on the UN Security Council to denounce the Kuhestak attack.“The Islamic Republic strongly condemns this horrific and appalling crime,” he wrote, adding that “the deliberate targeting and killing of civilians, including children, constitutes a grave violation of the fundamental rules of international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime.”Iranian authorities say at least 3,468 people were killed in the initial phase of the US and Israel’s war, which began on February 28 and ended with a ceasefire on April 8. A second round of hostilities, from July 27 to August 24, killed a further 59 people and wounded 666.The deadliest single attack of the war, in terms of civilian casualties, destroyed an elementary school in Minab on the war’s first day. At least 156 people, including 120 children, were killed. A separate strike that day hit a sports hall in Lamerd, killing 21 people, including four children.Over more than six months of war, the US and Israel have also struck oil and gas facilities, fuel depots, steel and petrochemical factories, airports, ports, bridges, power installations, medical centres and water facilities across Iran.
Weapons experts say Iran wedding strike was likely direct hit by US munition
