US Investigates Deadly Strike on Iranian Wedding, Says It Never Targets Civilians but Incidents Happen

The United States is conducting what Vice President JD Vance called an “exhaustive” investigation into a strike on a wedding in southern Iran that killed four people, including a four-year-old child. Iranian authorities said 68 people were injured, with 50 taken to hospital.

The projectiles hit a home in the village of Kuhestak, in Hormozgan province, on Tuesday night. Tehran has described the attack as a war crime and accused the United States of seriously violating basic principles of international law.

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Never attacks civilians during combat. We will never do that. We have never done that. And, unfortunately, it is evident that incidents sometimes occur.

Speaking at a White House news conference, Vance said the United States “never attacks civilians during combat” but added that “unfortunately, it is evident that incidents sometimes occur.” He also said Washington did not have “conclusive information in either direction” about what happened and expressed strong skepticism about Iranian state media’s coverage of the strikes.

Vance said the investigation mattered because the United States wanted to establish the facts. If American forces made mistakes, he said, the military would learn from them and try to improve, drawing a contrast with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

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We do not have conclusive information in either direction.

Iran linked the strike to earlier attacks in Minab and Lamerd. Tehran said 168 students and teachers died in the Minab attack and 21 people were killed in Lamerd on the first day of the war, February 28. The White House confirmed in July that the Pentagon was still investigating the Minab school strike.

The conflict between Iran and the United States has intensified after six months of fighting. Iran said recent US attacks on five provinces killed 18 people, including two women and a child, and injured 142 others.

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These brutal war crimes, which constitute a serious violation of the fundamental principles of international law, recall previous crimes committed by the American-Zionists over the past year and a half, including those in Minab and Lamerd.