An explosion that ripped through a wedding celebration in southern Iran on Tuesday, killing four people and injuring at least 68 others, likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition and not a ricochet off another target, according to an analysis by weapons experts who reviewed images and video verified by Reuters.
The incident in the small town of Kuhestak has reignited concerns about the civilian toll in the US war with Iran and marks the most dramatic case since a missile struck an Iranian primary school in February, killing scores of children and teachers inside.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) had announced its forces carried out multiple strikes across Iran’s south on September 1, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air defense sites, radar systems, and communications facilities. The barrage came in retaliation for earlier Iranian attacks on US military assets around the Gulf.
CENTCOM is conducting its own review of the incident, Axios reported on Thursday night.
On Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance said the United States was investigating the strike. "We're investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know," Vance said during a White House press briefing.
The US military said it was aware of reports and was looking into them.
Dozens gathered for a wedding ceremony on night of strikes
Iran’s delegation to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On the night of the attacks, dozens of residents had gathered in a home in Kuhestak for a wedding ceremony, according to eyewitnesses. During the party, a munition likely struck the building's roof, according to photos and video verified by Reuters and reviewed by experts.
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 separate 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.
"Given the number of bombs that have been dropped, this does occur from time to time even with the most sophisticated guidance systems," said Gareth Collett, a retired British Army brigadier who specialized in counterterrorist bomb disposal and holds a doctorate in explosives engineering.
After the strike, bloody shoes lay amid the rubble, and wedding decorations that are common in that part of Iran were strewn about, the images show.
One eyewitness sent a voice note to Reuters moments after the strike, saying: "Kuhestak is destroyed. Four, five, ten houses were destroyed. Many people are under the rubble. God help us."
Local residents spoke on condition of anonymity.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the US military had carried out strikes in the area of Kuhestak on Sept. 1, specifically targeting the town’s telecommunications tower.
That tower is roughly 135 meters from the site of the wedding celebration, according to satellite imagery. The tower was hit at approximately 9:30 PM local time, according to Iranian media.
One of the US officials 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 defense missile, or an errant interceptor itself.
The count of four deaths and 68 injuries came from Balochestan Human Rights Documentation Network and Haalvsh, which monitor and document human rights abuses.
Three of the people killed were guests of the wedding - Kolsoom Mollahi Najhandania, 43; Zarkhatoon Taheri, 50; and four-year-old Amir Mohammad Karimi - according to the groups. The fourth person, 16-year-old Mohammad Mallahi, was killed while riding his motorcycle near the communications tower.
The names have also been confirmed in Iranian media.
The incident comes more than six months after a missile destroyed a primary school in Minab on Feb. 28, hours after the start of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran that launched the current conflict. That hit killed more than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials.
The Pentagon has not publicly released the findings of its investigation into the Minab strike, which was the US military’s biggest civilian casualty incident in decades. But Reuters first reported on March 5 that an initial, internal US military investigation showed US forces were likely responsible for that strike on the opening day of the war with Iran.
At approximately 9:30 PM local time on Sept. 1, posts on social media started to circulate about an attack on the local wedding.
Local residents interviewed, Iranian state media claims civilian infrastructure hit
Human rights groups in touch with local residents said that after the strike, local authorities pressured eyewitnesses not to discuss the attack with foreign media.
Reuters spoke to residents through intermediaries.
"At the wedding, there were a lot of people. Many [injured] people have been taken away, many more [injured people] are being taken right now," one local resident said in a voice message just after the wedding was hit.
Iranian state media, citing telecommunication authorities in Hormozgan, said the tower was a civilian structure that delivers mobile, telephone, and internet services to people living in the surrounding Sirik County.
During the six-month war in Iran, the US military has repeatedly struck Iranian radar and communications facilities near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with the aim of stopping the Iranian military from threatening commercial ships and oil tankers transiting the waterway.
Iran has shown that it can throttle energy shipments in the strait, driving up global energy costs and creating a political challenge for the Trump administration ahead of the US midterm Congressional elections.
Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician and current weapons technical analyst for Armament Research Services, was among the experts who reviewed the photos and video at Reuters’ request.
"The damage seen appears to be from a munition which detonated on contact with the roof, or just above the roof," he said, adding it was apparently a direct hit.
"The visible blast damage could not result from fragments from the nearby strike on the communications tower striking the area."
He said it was likely a US weapon.
Collett agreed with Ball’s analysis.
"The weight of evidence leans towards a US 500 lb air-dropped munition as opposed to an Iranian air defense missile," he said.
Sebastian Schutte, a Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, also reviewed the visual material. Based on available evidence, he also agreed that the hole on the roof was not the result of a ricochet off of the telecommunications tower.
The three experts said it was unlikely that a misfired Iranian missile had destroyed the home.
Schutte said the angle of the impact was inconsistent with an air defense missile, and Collett said there was no evidence of the kind of fragmentation that would normally be present with an air defense warhead.
Various weapon fragments were also shown on Iranian media. Ball identified "some of these remnants" as belonging to a joint standoff weapon (JSOW), a type of glide bomb commonly used by the US military.
Reuters could not verify that the fragments came from the attack on the house in Kuhestak.
On Thursday, residents of Kuhestak held a funeral for those killed. Mourners filled the procession, carrying a casket and holding posters above their heads as a funeral prayer played in the background.
Women wearing black full-body cloaks with bright red traditional facemasks distinctive to the southern coastal region of Iran threw flowers on 4-year-old Amir Mohammad Karimi’s small casket as it passed.
"The situation in Sirik is sad and mournful, and people are still in shock," said one eyewitness.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.