Iran calls US strike on wedding party a 'war crime' as fighting escalates

Iran has called a reported US strike on a wedding party a "war crime" as both sides resume attacks on each other following a month-long lull in fighting. The US launched several strikes on Iran on Tuesday, with Tehran saying one of those hit a home hosting a wedding in Kuhestak, a small coastal town overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media initially reported four deaths, including two children aged 4 and 16, before revising the death toll to five on Wednesday. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on X: "The truth of this unlawful war of choice – and the true face of the war crime – is in Sirik, where a wedding ceremony was brutally bombed as part of America’s desperate struggle to conceal its failure, not in AI-generated videos portraying American officials as triumphant heroes.” US Central Command (Centcom) spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said the US military was “aware of the reports, which originated from Iranian state media, and we are looking into them.” He would not say if Centcom had launched a formal investigation. The US said they were striking military positions near the Strait of Hormuz. Credit: AP Several heavy explosions also shook Kuhestak as fireballs lit up the night sky, according to security camera footage carried by the semi-official Fars news agency. Images from Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency also showed several hospitalised children being treated for injuries at a hospital in the nearby town of Minab, where a US missile strike on the opening day of the war hit a primary school, killing more than 100 children. Iran has said four members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and 10 members of the Guard’s volunteer Basij forces died in the latest string of US attacks. Fighting has escalated since the American military hit Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, saying Iran was planning to use them to shoot mines into the waterway. US and Iran trade strikes marking first major military escalation in a month US warship docks near Thai party town after 285 days at sea Iran retaliated by firing missiles at American bases in Jordan that were intercepted. Bahrain, which hosts an important US naval base, said its air defence systems intercepted incoming fire from Iran early on Wednesday, accusing Iran of “attacks targeting civilians” in a statement issued by its military. Also on Wednesday, Kuwait said a fire broke out at a residential complex in the capital after it was hit by an Iranian drone at dawn. It said the blaze had been contained and there were no casualties. In Iraq, where Iranian-backed forces are active, Kurdish authorities said they had intercepted 10 drones laden with explosives in the Irbil area. Iranian television reported that American bases in Irbil had been targeted. Subscribe for free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. Both sides have suffered from the recent ramp up in fighting, with the White House under pressure to address America's over stretched military resources with Congress and the Senate becoming increasingly unhappy with the conflict. Iran's economy has also been collapsing, with its currency hitting another record low on Wednesday, with traders in Tehran exchanging 2.20 million rials for one US dollar, a 10% increase from last week's record. Since the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, has climbed to around $95, up more than 30% from the start of the war. Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below...