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Qeshm strike kills civilians
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned a US strike on a residential building on Qeshm Island in southern Iran that killed three civilians, saying the attack damaged several homes and killed taxi driver Qaisar Jafari, his wife Zahra, and their two-year-old son Sina.
“Tehran decries deadly Qeshm Island strike that killed three civilians”
Baghaei posted on X that the “criminal attack last night on the homes of the noblest Iranians in Qeshm” resulted in the “martyrdom of a hardworking taxi driver” and his family.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also condemned the reported strike, describing it as a continuation of previous attacks on civilian residential areas.
Ghalibaf said, “The United States stains its hands with a new crime every day,” and warned that “Americans have become accustomed to compensating for the blows they receive on the battlefield by shedding the blood of innocent people.”
Threats of retaliation
In separate remarks, Ghalibaf accused the United States of targeting civilians and warned Washington would “pay the price” for its actions after a reported US attack on Qeshm Island.
Qalibaf wrote, “The terrorist attack on civilian homes on Qeshm Island is a continuation of the crimes committed in Minab and Lamerd,” and said the United States was responding to military setbacks by attacking civilians.
The reports tied the Qeshm strike to the Chah Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm in the southern province of Hormozgan, where local officials said a father, mother and one child were killed and two other children were rescued and taken to hospital in a stable condition.
The same pattern of condemnation and warning appeared in another account, where Ghalibaf said, “The United States stains its hands with a new crime every day. The terrorist attack on civilian homes on Qeshm Island is a continuation of its crimes in Minab and Lamerd,” and added that “They will pay the price.”
Broader regional risk
The US strikes described in the Iranian accounts extended beyond Qeshm Island to parts of Bushehr, Fars and Khuzestan provinces, with the deadliest strike hitting a residential house in the Chah Tangu neighborhood of Qeshm.
“Earlier on Thursday, the US launched missile strikes on several locations in southern Iran, including Qeshm Island”
In the same reporting, the attack on Qeshm was described as killing three members of a family—a father, a mother and their two-year-old child—while two other children, aged seven and nine, were injured and transferred to hospital.
The reporting also said the developments coincided with Washington resuming its attacks on Iran and Tehran replying by targeting American targets in the Gulf, raising “fears of the risk of a broader conflict in the region.”
China’s role was also addressed in the same set of accounts, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning telling Xinhua News Agency that reports claiming Beijing would send “nearly 300 to 400 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile launchers to Tehran” were “false and entirely unfounded.”
