Image analysis suggests US strike on Iran wedding

Analyzes of images published after a deadly strike against a wedding in Iran on Tuesday, September 1, reveal a host of clues compatible with the hypothesis of an American strike, according to the Verification Agency and the international editorial staff of Radio France on Friday, confirming information from the New York Times. Accused by Tehran of being responsible for this attack which left four dead, the United States announced that it was conducting “a thorough investigation” into the matter. According to Iranian authorities, the strike on this house left four people dead and 70 injured.

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At least two strikes hit Kuhestak, a coastal town in the Strait of Hormuz region, on Tuesday evening. Iranian state television broadcast images of a collapsed telecommunications tower. This tower is located 135 meters from the house where the wedding took place, according to satellite images consulted by the Radio France Verification Agency.

Photos and videos shared by Iranians, including a photographer who has covered the conflict since February, show a hole in the roof of a house. Residents also testify to what happened. According to the analysis of the international editorial staff of Radio France, the impact visible in the roof of this house is compatible with that of a precision bomb.

Other photos and videos published on social networks also show munitions debris. The Iranians posting them say they are the remains of a US bomb that destroyed the house and killed four people at a wedding. The images themselves do not confirm this accusation. However, this debris may correspond to an American bomb, the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), since we can distinguish in particular elements corresponding to the fins of a hovering bomb, according to the analysis of the international editorial staff of Radio France.

The shape of the debris observed also corresponds to the JSOW model, notably identified by Open Source Munitions Portal, an independent site which lists weapons used during conflicts. Furthermore, a JSOW was transported by one of the American fighter planes engaged in the United States military operation Tuesday evening in Iran, as noted by the Radio France Verification Agency on official images from the American army published Tuesday.

US military does not confirm attack

On Tuesday, Washington announced new strikes against "targets of the Revolutionary Guards in Iran", Tehran's ideological army. In the process, Iranian state television reported several explosions heard in the south of the country, near the Strait of Hormuz. In its account of the operation, the US military said it targeted "air defense sites, radar systems, maritime installations, mine devices and communications sites", but it does not confirm that it carried out an attack on Kuhestak.

Accused by Tehran of having committed a "war crime", Washington responded on Wednesday that "the American army never targets civilians, unlike the Revolutionary Guards", through the voice of Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for the American Central Command (Centcom). On Thursday, US Vice President J.D. Vance announced that the United States was conducting "a thorough investigation" into the strike. However, he stressed that he was "skeptical" about the information provided by the Iranian media since the start of the war.