US investigating report Trump missile strike killed Iranian civilians at wedding

The US is investigating Iranian reports that an American missile tore through a wedding party, killing at least four civilians, including two women and two children. 'We're aware of the reports, which originated from Iranian state media, and we are looking into them,' US Central Command spokesman Tim Hawkins said in a statement. 'The US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps).' The wedding was taking place in a family home in the southern city of Kuhestak in Sirik County, Hormozgan province, on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian media. The victims were identified by the Hormozgan governor's office on Wednesday as four-year-old Amir Ali Karimi, Mohammad Malahi, 16, Kolsoum Malahi and Zarkhatoun Taheri, both 43. More than 60 people were wounded, local reports said. Photos showed a child with a bandaged head and leg, sandals scattered across a blood-soaked floor and a hole blown through the roof of the property. A state TV reporter alleged that three missiles were used in the attack, including one that struck the roof and created a 5ft hole. A woman with bloodied hands was interviewed at the scene, telling state-linked SSN: 'This house was by no means close to any military site.' A man sits with a child injured, according to Iranian media, in a strike on a home where a wedding was being held in Kuhestak, southern Iran, at a hospital in Menab, Iran, early Wednesday An aerial view shows damage to buildings in the aftermath of an alleged US strike on a wedding party, on September 2, 2026 in Kuhestak, Sirik County, in the Hormozgan Province of Iran Blood stains are seen next to a pair of sandals on a carpet inside a building that Iranian media said was damaged in a U.S. strike in Kuhestak, southern Iran, early Wednesday A young local man wounded in the attack said from his hospital bed that he was heading to the wedding with others when they heard jets flying overhead before the explosions began. 'Many young children and women were horribly wounded,' he said. Two weapons experts told the Associated Press that images of fragments of a missile, which Iranian media said was used in the strike, were from a US-made SLAM-ER cruise missile. Trevor Ball, an analyst with Armament Research Services, said the SLAM-ER was 'developed as a very precise weapon' that can be retargeted in flight by a human operator watching by infrared camera. N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, said the air-launched missile is also used by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Neither country has reported carrying out recent strikes on Iran. 'Make no mistake: these crimes will not go unpunished,' Ebrahim Azizi, chairperson of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X. The alleged US strike comes after the deadliest civilian casualties of the war were reported in Minab, also in Hormozgan province, when a girls' school was struck on February 28. The attack on the first day of the war killed more than 150 people, most of them children, along with teachers and parents. A child receives treatment at a hospital in the aftermath of an alleged U.S. strike on a wedding party overnight on September 2 People inspect damage and debris at a building that Iranian media said was hit by a U.S. strike while a wedding celebration was taking place there, in Kuhestak, southern Iran, Wednesday Debris lies on carpets inside a building that Iranian media said was hit by a U.S. strike while a wedding celebration was taking place there, in Kuhestak, southern Iran, Wednesday Debris surrounds a car at the site of what Iranian media said was a U.S. strike in Kuhestak, southern Iran, early Wednesday Damage is seen at a building that Iranian media said was hit in a U.S. strike in Kuhestak, southern Iran, early Wednesday A boy wounded, according to Iranian media, in a strike on a home where a wedding was being held in Kuhestak, southern Iran, lies on a bed at a hospital in Menab, Iran, early Wednesday Despite evidence that Tomahawk missiles were involved, the US military has not released the findings of its investigation. CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper said the school was located 'on an active IRGC cruise missile base.' Donald Trump ordered fresh strikes after Iran launched attacks on US bases in the Middle East. A ceasefire deal reached in June quickly fell apart amid exchanges of strikes that same month. Pakistan has been working to restart talks. Late Tuesday, Trump said he would not force Iran to the bargaining table and urged Iranian civilians to overthrow the government. 'I couldn't care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?' Trump posted on Truth Social.