At least five people have been killed and 68 others wounded after shrapnel from a US attack hit a residential building where a wedding reception was taking place in Kuhestak, in Sirik County in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province.
The attack struck while families had gathered for the wedding. Hormozgan’s Red Crescent Society described it as “a US missile strike that sent shrapnel into a residential home in Kuhestak, where a wedding celebration was taking place”.
Iran’s Health Ministry confirmed the casualties, with a 4-year-old child among those killed.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the strike, saying families had gathered at the home for a wedding when it was attacked. He said more than 50 people had been killed or wounded and accused the US of a broader pattern of attacks against Iranian civilians.
“The United States’ catalogue of atrocities against the nation of Iran is now complete,” Baqaei wrote on X. He warned that Iran would respond to what he described as “savage crimes”.
The Iranian mission in India also condemned the attack, saying it had turned a wedding celebration into a funeral. In a post shared by its India account, the mission said: “They turned a wedding into a funeral and our joy into grief,” and said the deaths would not be forgotten.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the attack had revived memories of strikes on civilian sites during the previous round of US-Israeli attacks, citing an attack on a school in Minab in Hormozgan province and a sports complex in Lamerd in neighbouring Fars province.
Elsewhere in Sirik, Iranian officials said US strikes hit a fishing pier and a port authority tower. An American attack also targeted a fishmeal factory on Hormozgan’s Qeshm Island.
The US military said it was aware of reports that civilians had been killed in Sirik but maintained that it does not target civilians.
US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, speaking on behalf of US Central Command, told the BBC: “The US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC.”
The strikes came as the US resumed attacks on Iran after a month-long pause. Centcom said its latest strikes on IRGC targets followed “recent attempted attacks” by Iran against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and American forces in the region.
Iran subsequently launched a series of missile and drone attacks against US targets and interests in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Bahrain.
The latest escalation follows a wider US-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began on February 28. Iran responded by attacking Israel, US bases and allied states in the Gulf, while the conflict severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
A US-Iran agreement, known as the Memorandum of Understanding, was signed in June to extend an April ceasefire between the two countries. The agreement has since expired, with hostilities resuming.
Both sides have also targeted shipping, with Iran attacking vessels it says attempted to cross the Strait of Hormuz without its permission and the US enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
On August 24, Washington announced a fresh sanctions campaign against Iran and countries continuing to trade with Tehran. Iranian officials and state media have dismissed the measures as a continuation of previous US economic pressure.
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