US forces bomb wedding in Iran, killing four, as conflict escalates

Four people were killed and dozens injured after US forces bombed a wedding ceremony in Iran, local authorities have said as both sides traded heavy strikes.

Iran’s Red Crescent Society said 67 people were injured after a missile hit a building in Sirik, a coastal area in the Strait of Hormuz. A four-year-old child was among those killed in the strike on Wednesday, they said.

Tehran vowed to inflict a “crushing and devastating blow” in response, hours after retaliating with strikes on US bases in Jordan.

US CENTCOM said it was aware of reports of the attack but that the US did not target civilians.

The US and Iran have returned to all-out war following the collapse of a short-lived truce last month, with no end in sight to the conflict despite mediation efforts by Pakistan and Qatar.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson accused the US of “cruelty” and claimed it formed part of a pattern of attacks on civilians, which CENTCOM denies. It cited a strike on a school in Minab earlier this year that allegedly killed 156 civilians, including 120 children.

"American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences," Iran’s joint military command said on Wednesday.

“In the new list of war crimes and attacks by the US army on civilian targets in Iran, after schools, stadiums, and residential homes, now add wedding ceremonies to this list too,” the Iranian Red Crescent said in a statement.

It added that the Hormozgan Province Red Crescent Society, the local branch, had reported that most of the injured were women and children.

The Pentagon is also yet to issue an official finding on the Minab strike, but sources told Reuters that it may have been the result of the use of outdated targeting data, with other sources telling CNN that senior military commanders bypassed warnings that some of the targeting was severely out of date.

Another seven people were killed and eight injured in US missile attacks in Iran's Khuzestan province overnight, state media cited the province's deputy governor as saying.

CENTCOM said it had hit air defences, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites on Tuesday.

Tehran says it has struck US targets across the region including in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and Iraq. US officials told The Independent that reports regarding a ballistic missile attack on a US base in Jordan were false.

The IRGC also claimed a missile and drone attack on Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base that it said targeted the accommodation of a US commander.

The clashes spell the end of a stalemate lasting over a month, during which both sides have launched only limited strikes while making no progress towards peace.

US president Donald Trump has claimed that Tehran is “playing out the inevitable” despite the unpopularity of the war at home.

"I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing," Trump said. "They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?"

Tehran’s foreign ministry vowed to respond to "these savage crimes with firmness".

"Those governments and international institutions that remain silent in the face of such barbarism, or seek to justify such acts, must understand that their silence is not neutrality," Iran said.

"Those who remain silent today will not be immune to its consequences tomorrow."