US Airstrike Hits Family Home on Iran's Qeshm Island, Killing Civilians

A US airstrike on Iran’s Qeshm Island struck a family home, according to Iranian officials and an analysis by The New York Times of available footage. The strike hit a densely populated residential area in Qeshm City in the early hours of Thursday. NYT identifies the weapon as likely a 2,000-pound Mark-84 bomb, one of the largest conventional bombs used by the US military. Iranian officials identified the victims as Zahra Jafari, her husband Qeysar Jafari, a taxi driver, and their son Sina. Their two other children, Mohammad Reza and Mehdi, were pulled alive from the rubble and remained hospitalised in stable condition, officials said. The strike took place in the Chah-Tangu neighbourhood, an area of tightly packed homes on the island in the Strait of Hormuz. Using satellite imagery and footage from the scene to locate the strike, NYT found a crater at least 30 feet wide, with debris and damaged vehicles scattered more than 200 feet from the impact site. Weapons experts who reviewed the imagery confirmed that the crater and damage were consistent with a Mark-84 2,000-pound bomb, potentially fitted with a JDAM guidance kit. Former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician Trevor Ball said fragments visible in Iranian media footage appeared to be parts of such a guidance system. French munitions consultant Frederic Gras also assessed the crater as consistent with a Mark-84 bomb. He said the weapon appeared to have detonated below the surface, with the sandy terrain absorbing part of the blast and directing its force downward. NYT added that they found no indication of a military facility near the family’s home or reports of military casualties from the strike. Around 20 neighbouring households were displaced, according to Iranian officials. Two warehouses outside Qeshm City were also destroyed in additional strikes during the same wave of attacks, the visual analysis found. The US Central Command said it had carried out strikes on targets in southern Iran in retaliation for earlier Iranian attacks on a base used by US forces in Jordan. CENTCOM said it was aware of reports of civilian casualties and was investigating them but did not provide details about the intended target, the weapon used or precautions taken to protect civilians. “The US military never targets civilians,” a CENTCOM spokesman said. The circumstances of the strike have raised questions about what the US was targeting and why a 2,000-pound bomb was used in a densely populated residential area. Experts also raised concerns about the potential civilian harm from using such a large munition in a populated neighbourhood. A clock visible inside one of the damaged homes in footage posted by Mehr News had stopped just before 3.40 am local time, minutes after CENTCOM said it had begun strikes on Iran that night.