US missile strike on Iranian wedding kills at least five, including child

A US missile strike hit a wedding gathering in southern Iran, killing at least five people, including a child, and injuring 63 others, Iranian officials said.

The strike took place on Tuesday during a wedding ceremony in Sirik County in southern Iran.

Of those injured, 50 were women and children, according to Sirik County Governor Reza Shahidian, who spoke to state broadcaster IRIB.

Iranian Red Crescent officials initially reported more than 50 people injured in the attack.

However, footage released after the strike showed parts of a building’s walls and windows blown out, with debris scattered across the area.

The Red Crescent also released images of several children receiving treatment in hospital.

All 63 injured people were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Minab, Shahidian said.

Fars News Agency published the account of a child who survived the strike.

The child said they heard warplanes before reaching the wedding venue and that a powerful explosion occurred shortly after they arrived. Shrapnel and chunks of brick, stone and concrete struck the child’s face and head, while several others were also injured.

The child also said those attending the gathering were ordinary civilians.

Separately, seven people were killed and eight others injured in another US missile strike in Iran’s Khuzestan province, according to the provincial deputy governor for security affairs, cited by state news agency IRNA.

US Central Command said the strikes were carried out after recent attempts by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has since launched retaliatory attacks, with Iranian state media and Jordan’s armed forces reporting strikes targeting US military bases in Iraq, Bahrain and Jordan.

The escalating exchange of attacks has heightened fears that the conflict could spread further across the Middle East.