Iran’s foreign ministry on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, called a reported U.S. missile strike that hit near a wedding gathering in southern Iran a “war crime,” while U.S. Central Command said it never targets civilians and that overnight strikes focused on military infrastructure. The clash is among the sharpest exchanges since July in the wider U.S.–Iran fight over the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that once carried roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil, and where every escalation lands on civilians and commercial shipping alike.

According to Iranian media and the Iranian Red Crescent Society, late Tuesday into early Wednesday a U.S. missile strike struck or landed near a private home in Kuhestak, Sirik county, Hormozgan province, while a wedding was underway. Iranian Red Crescent and provincial officials said at least four people were killed, including four-year-old Amir-Ali Karimi and 16-year-old Mohammad Mollahi (also rendered Mollahi / Mallahi in Iranian reporting). The Red Crescent put the injured at about 67–68. The Guardian, which first published on the incident around 7:56 a.m. EDT Wednesday and updated around 11:19 a.m. EDT, reported 68 injured and named the same child and teenager among the dead.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei labeled the attack a “war crime.” Chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf denounced Washington in stark terms, writing that a power that “acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan and kills like Satan” is Satan — language carried by Iranian outlets and international wires. The Iranian Red Crescent has also written to the International Criminal Court seeking an independent investigation.

CENTCOM: military targets, not civilians

CENTCOM spokesperson Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins told outlets including the BBC and The Guardian that the command is aware of Iranian media reports. “The US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” Hawkins said. CENTCOM said overnight strikes concentrated on Iranian military targets — air defense sites, radars, and maritime assets — as part of efforts to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten shipping through Hormuz.

Independent weapons analyst Trevor Ball, cited by The Guardian, identified some remnants shown in Iranian state media as components consistent with a Boeing AGM-84K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response). That is attributed open-source analysis, not a confirmed U.S. acknowledgment of which munition struck which building. Local reporting and CCTV described multiple impacts in Kuhestak within about a minute, including damage to a nearby telecommunications tower roughly 150 meters from the wedding home; it remains unclear from available reporting whether the residence was hit directly or by debris and shrapnel from a nearby impact.

Retaliation and the Hormuz shipping war

Iran said it answered with drones and missiles against U.S. bases. Iranian claims and regional reporting pointed to targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and Iraq/Erbil; some outlets also listed UAE facilities. The exchange fits a pattern: Washington presses military and radar sites along Iran’s Gulf coast to reopen Hormuz corridors, Tehran answers with projectiles at bases and shipping, and ordinary people — wedding guests, seafarers, port workers — absorb the costs that great-power strategy rarely prices in.

Whatever investigators eventually conclude about intent versus effect in Kuhestak, the immediate facts on Wednesday were grim and contested: Iranian authorities reporting child and teenage dead at a family celebration; CENTCOM denying civilian targeting while confirming a wave of military strikes; and another night of risk for anyone who still has to sail, live, or celebrate near the world’s most important oil chokepoint. Concentrated power — in Tehran and in Washington — keeps choosing escalation. Shipping freedom and civilian safety are what get rationed.

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