US Attacks Iran Wedding in Kuhestak, Sirik County, Killing 18

The United States carried out attacks on Iran that left at least 18 people dead during the second night of U.S. attacks in less than 48 hours, with Iranian authorities saying several projectiles hit a home in Kuhestak, a coastal town in Sirik County, Hormozgān Province, where a wedding was being celebrated.

“At least 18 people have died during the second night of U.S. attacks on Iran in less than 48 hours”

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Iranian authorities said four people were killed in the Kuhestak attack, including two minors aged 4 and 16, and 68 others were wounded, with 50 requiring hospitalization.

- AJN Agencia de Noticias

The building owner, Ali Malahi, told Iranian state television that the wedding of his daughter was being held there and that he assured all attendees were civilians.

A reporter from Iran’s state television said three missiles were reportedly used, and one of them would have penetrated the roof of the house where the wedding was taking place, creating a hole of about one and a half meters in the ground.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry characterized the Kuhestak strike as a “war crime” and placed it within what it considers a sequence of U.S. attacks on civilians since the conflict began, while CENTCOM said it was aware of reports of civilian casualties issued by Iranian state media but had not confirmed that one of its attacks hit the celebration.

CENTCOM spokesman Tim Hawkins told Al Jazeera, “The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” as Iranian state media and independent monitoring networks described widespread destruction at the wedding site.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general was “deeply alarmed by reports of civilian casualties, including in a strike that reportedly hit a wedding ceremony in Iran.”

Dujarric also urged “an immediate cessation of military action” and warned that “Further escalation ... would have devastating consequences for civilians and for the wider region and beyond.”

After the renewed exchange of fire, Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its joint military command said the armed forces would deliver what they described as “crushing and devastating blows” against the United States, while the state-run IRNA news agency cited a Revolutionary Guard warning that the attacks had strengthened Iran’s resolve and tightened Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“the armed forces would deliver what they described as “crushing and devastating blows””

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The ABC News report said the U.S. Central Command announced its latest strikes were in response to Tehran trying to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East, and it quoted CENTCOM’s position that “The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said 17 million barrels of oil transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, and the report tied the renewed fighting to oil prices moving sharply higher with crude up about 7% this week.

In parallel, the UN warned that airspace and critical shipping routes were “continuing to be heavily impacted,” as Dujarric said the UN chief urged the United States and Iran to “return urgently to diplomacy” for a “comprehensive and durable settlement.”