Iran accused the United States of striking a wedding party in the country’s south Tuesday, killing at least five people, as U.S. Central Command announced it completed its latest torrent against Iranian military targets.
A U.S. strike hit a home hosting a wedding in Kuhestak, a coastal city near the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian officials. Ahmad Nafisi, the province’s deputy governor, told Iranian state television that five people, including a child, were killed and at least 68 others were wounded.
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CENTCOM said it wrapped up strikes on Iranian military targets on Tuesday evening, including air defense sites, radar systems, naval assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities, and communications sites, but did not confirm whether a wedding had been hit, only saying it doesn’t target civilians.
“We are aware of reports, which originated from Iranian state media. The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” CENTCOM spokesman Tim Hawkins said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the reported attack on the wedding will be met with a “regretful response to the aggressors,” adding that its “new aerospace defense system” shot down an American drone.
The Washington Examiner reached out to CENTCOM for comment.
CENTCOM has said the renewed strikes are a response to Iran’s efforts to lay additional sea mines in the strait and its missile attack against a U.S. base in Jordan. The noon EDT attack on Tuesday followed a Sunday evening U.S. strike against the Guard that was the first after a monthlong break in airstrikes between Washington and Tehran.
President Donald Trump warned that Iranian retaliation would be met with fierce U.S. action.
“If they retaliate, they’ll be hit much harder. And if they do it again, they’ll be no longer,” Trump told Fox News.
The reported wedding strike marks another instance in which Iran has accused the U.S. of targeting civilians. At the onset of the war, a strike on an Iranian elementary school killed over 100 school-aged children.
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The strike on the school took place on the opening day of the war in Iran, Feb. 28, when a missile, identified in video by weapons experts as a U.S. Tomahawk, reportedly struck Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing over 150 people, mostly school-aged girls.
A New York Times report found that the strike was the result of U.S. forces relying on outdated data to pinpoint their targets. The outlet reported in July that an investigation of the strike was complete, but it is still waiting for top Pentagon officials’ approval and has not been released.
