U.S. Strike Hit a Family Home on Iran's Qeshm Island, Killing Three Including a 2-Year-Old, Iranian Officials Say

U.S. Central Command said it launched a "heavy wave of strikes against Iran" early on Thursday, July 30, hitting dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets across southern Iran including on Qeshm Island. Iranian officials said a residential building in Qeshm was struck, with three people trapped under rubble and two injured taken to hospital, and subsequently said a husband, wife and their 2-year-old son were killed and two other children pulled out alive. The New York Times reported that an analysis of video, photographs and satellite imagery by weapons experts indicated the munition was a 2,000-pound Mark-84 bomb, and said it could not identify any military installation nearby.

The use of a large unguided-class munition in a densely built residential area, if borne out, raises questions about target selection and precautions that CENTCOM's public statements have not addressed.

CENTCOM said it is aware of the reports and is looking into the civilian casualty claims, and that it does not target civilians. Casualty figures come from Iranian officials and state-linked media and have not been independently confirmed.