U.S. Vice President Says Washington Investigating Deadly Strike on Iranian Wedding

Reuters

U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the United States was investigating a deadly strike on an Iranian wedding ceremony earlier this week.

An explosion tore through a wedding celebration in southern Iran on Tuesday, although the United States has not accepted responsibility for the incident.

Iranian state television reported on Thursday that a 22-year-old woman had died in hospital following the strike, which hit a home during the wedding, bringing the reported death toll to five. Iranian officials said nearly 70 people were wounded.

Funeral-goers assembled in the late afternoon on Thursday outside the village of Kuhestak in ⁠Sirik County, along a stretch of the Strait of Hormuz coast that was hit by heavy U.S. airstrikes late on Tuesday to mourn their loved ones.

Vance told reporters on Thursday that the United States was looking into the incident. "We're investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know," he said.

"If we do make mistakes, again, this is a big difference between us and Iran, when our military makes mistakes, they learn from them to try to get better from them," Vance added.

The U.S. military said it was aware of the Iranian reports but it "never targets civilians".

A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said the government is looking at various scenarios related to the casualties at the wedding, including whether they were caused by a U.S. strike, some sort of ricochet of an Iranian air defence missile, or an errant interceptor itself.

Washington launched the airstrikes on Tuesday, hitting what it said were military targets along the coast in retaliation for Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The sudden escalation of the Iran war has caused a surge in oil prices to levels unseen since July. Prices rose for a fourth straight day on Thursday, taking Brent crude futures ⁠over $96 a barrel.

Iran reported 18 dead in the last U.S. assault.

It responded on Wednesday to the U.S. strikes with attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, and carried out further attacks early on Thursday, saying it was targeting another U.S. base, in Kuwait.

Kuwait's military said its air defences had intercepted missiles and drones.

But following that, the war's biggest flare-up since July appeared to subside, with no more major attacks from either side reported on Thursday.

Source: Reuters



PUKMEDIA