▲ A house in southern Iran that collapsed after being struck by an airstrike during a wedding
The bomb that struck a wedding venue in southern Iran, resulting in dozens of civilian casualties, has been analyzed as a weapon used by the U.S. military, according to the American daily The New York Times.
In a report released on the 2nd local time, the newspaper stated that an analysis of video and photographic evidence of weapon debris found at the bombed residential site in Kuhestak, Hormozgan Province, Iran, matched components of the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) operated by the U.S. military.
Trevor Ball, a weapons expert and former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, analyzed the tailfins, casing shape, and bolt-hole arrangement of the bomb debris found at the scene and concluded they were parts of an American-made glide weapon.
In particular, the tailfins recovered from the site matched the shape of JSOW debris previously found at airstrike sites in Yemen and Venezuela, and the size of the casing and the distinctive bolt-hole arrangement also corresponded with JSOW reference photos, the newspaper reported.
The JSOW is a long-range air-to-surface guided weapon that, when dropped by a fighter jet outside the range of enemy air defenses, extends its wings to glide for tens of kilometers or more before precisely striking targets using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and other guidance methods.
The New York Times also noted that in a video released by the U.S. Central Command on the same day announcing airstrikes against targets in Iran, a weapon appearing to be a JSOW was mounted under the wing of a U.S. fighter jet.
The location where the bomb fell is a residential area in Kuhestak, a port city close to the Strait of Hormuz, where a traditional wedding was taking place at a family home and surrounding buildings at the time.
The U.S. Central Command stated that it had targeted communication facilities and other infrastructure operated by the Iranian military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and a large communication tower near the port of Kuhestak was struck and collapsed.
The building where the wedding was taking place was located 137 meters away from this communication tower.
According to witness videos verified by The New York Times as well as testimony from residents and local officials, another bomb struck the building where the wedding was underway.
The attack killed at least 5 people and injured 67 others, with a 6-year-old boy among the dead.
In response to inquiries regarding the wedding venue attack and the weapons used, the U.S. Central Command stated, "We are aware of the reports," while maintaining that, "Unlike the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the U.S. military never intentionally targets civilians."
The New York Times pointed out that this airstrike in Kuhestak is yet another instance of U.S. military weapons striking non-military civilian facilities since the outbreak of the war in Iran.
On February 28, the day the war in Iran erupted following airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel, a U.S. Tomahawk missile struck an elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing at least 175 people, including children attending the school and teachers.
On the same day, a U.S. precision-strike missile attack near a residential area in Lamerd killed 21 people, and in July, the U.S. military launched a 2,000-pound bomb in an airstrike on a house on Qeshm Island, killing 3 civilians.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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