The United States has opened an investigation to determine whether one of its attacks in southern Iran reached a wedding and caused the deaths of civilians, an episode that again put under scrutiny Washington’s military operations after other bombings questioned since the beginning of the war.
Vice President JD Vance confirmed on Thursday that the incident in Kuhestak, in the province of Hormozgan, is under a “exhaustive” review, although he was “extremely skeptical” about the version initially circulated by Iranian state media.
“What I can say with absolute certainty is that, unlike the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the United States never attacks civilians during combat. We will never do. We never did it. And, unfortunately, it’s obvious that sometimes incidents happen,” Vance said during a press conference at the White House.
Crowds gathered in the town of #Kuhestak, in the district of #Sirik in southern Iran, to bid their final farewell to the martyrs who were killed in the US attack.Mourners carried the bodies of their loved ones and walked toward the city's martyrs' cemetery, where the bodies? pic.twitter.com/q6oUiB1ILs
The vice president acknowledged, however, that Washington still did not have sufficient evidence to establish what happened.
“We are investigating the matter because, obviously, we care. We want to know what has happened and, if we make mistakes, and here is a big difference between us and Iran, our military learns from them to try to improve. That is why we are conducting a thorough investigation,” he said.
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) also confirmed that it was reviewing the reports. His spokesman, Captain Tim Hawkins, said the U.S. Armed Forces “never attack civilians” and noted that the first reports about the incident came from Iranian media.
The attack occurred on Tuesday night in Kuhestak, a coastal town in Sirik County, near the Strait of Hormuz.Projects hit a house where several families were celebrating a wedding.
Early Iranian officials four dead and 68 wounded, although Reuters subsequently raised the death toll to five civilians, including a four-year-old boy, and 70 injured.
Images spread from the site showed damage to the nearby houses and buildings. A telecommunications tower was also reached near the coast. So far, the Pentagon has not publicly explained what was the specific military target of the operation that ended up affecting the house.
Tehran called the attack a “war crime.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei accused Washington of attacking a residential home while families were celebrating the wedding and warned that Iran would respond to what he called new attacks on civilians.
The incident occurred during a new escalation of clashes. The U.S. attacks this week were the most intense in more than a month and hit Iranian military targets, including air defense facilities and radars. Iran responded with missiles and drones against facilities used by U.S. forces in several Middle East countries
