US investigates deadly strike on Iranian wedding as evidence points to American munition

The Sept. 1 explosion occurred during a wedding celebration at a home in Kuhestak, a small town in southern Iran.

Reuters verified images and video from the scene and shared them with four military weapons experts. All four said the damage was consistent with a munition directly hitting the building rather than ricocheting from another target.

Three of the experts said the weapon was likely American rather than an errant Iranian air defense missile. One said a US weapon may simply have missed its intended target.

“The weight of evidence leans towards a US 500 lb air-dropped munition as opposed to an Iranian air defence missile,” said Gareth Collett, a retired British Army brigadier and explosives specialist.

US Vice President JD Vance said on Sept. 3 that Washington was investigating the incident.

“We’re investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know,” Vance said at a White House press briefing.

The US military also said it was aware of the reports and was looking into them.

US Central Command carried out multiple strikes across southern Iran on Sept. 1, targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defense sites, radar systems and communications facilities in response to earlier Iranian attacks on US military assets around the Gulf.

Two US officials told Reuters that American forces had struck targets in the Kuhestak area that day, including the town’s telecommunications tower.

Satellite imagery places the tower about 135 meters (440 feet) from the home where the wedding was taking place.

One US official said the government was examining several possible explanations for the casualties, including a US strike, a ricochet involving an Iranian air defense missile or an errant Iranian interceptor.

The death and injury toll was reported by the Balochestan Human Rights Documentation Network and Haalvsh, two groups that monitor human rights abuses. Three wedding guests were among those killed, including a 4-year-old boy. A 16-year-old boy riding a motorcycle near the telecommunications tower was also killed.

The incident comes six months after a missile destroyed a primary school in Minab on the opening day of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, killing more than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials.

The Pentagon has not publicly released the findings of its investigation into that strike. Reuters reported in March that an initial internal US military investigation found US forces were likely responsible.