US bomb likely missed target, hit home hosting wedding in southern Iran: Washington Post

A US bomb likely missed its intended target and struck a nearby home where a wedding celebration was taking place in southern Iran, killing at least four civilians and injuring more than 90 others, according to a report by The Washington Post.

The explosion occurred during a wider wave of US strikes in Iran on Tuesday. US forces had targeted a communications complex in the coastal town of Kuhestak, which American officials said was used in part by Iranian forces, the report said.

A person familiar with the operation told the Post that six bombs were dropped by US Navy aircraft towards the communications tower, with one apparently veering off course.

The home struck was about 440 feet from the tower, according to imagery verified by the newspaper.

The explosion killed two women and two children, aged four and 16, according to Iran's deputy health minister Ali Jafarian. More than 90 people were injured, although the Post said it could not independently verify the figures.

The Pentagon is investigating the incident, according to the Post.

Evidence points to errant US munition

The weapons used in the strike were US-made Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW), a type of glide bomb, a person familiar with the operation told the newspaper.

Weapons specialist Trevor Ball, who analysed images of remnants shown on Iranian state television, said they were consistent with parts of a JSOW. The Post could not independently verify that the remnants came from the strike site.

Ball said the damage was consistent with a JSOW variant carrying two warheads containing about 193 pounds of explosives. The pattern of the crater and fragmentation suggested that the munition detonated directly on or immediately above the roof of the home.

He ruled out other possible explanations, including an Iranian air-defence missile falling onto the building, saying the resulting damage and shrapnel pattern would have been different.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a JSOW can be manually updated during flight and could potentially miss if aimed at a narrow section of a target.

He said electronic jamming alone was unlikely to have disrupted the weapon because the JSOW uses multiple guidance systems.

Wes Bryant, a former Air Force Special Operations targeter, said military planners are required to assess civilian activity around a target before launching an attack in a populated area.

"Civilian pattern of life should be established prior to attack, and every structure adjacent to the targeted structure should be characterized," Bryant told the Post.

Pentagon investigating civilian deaths

US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that authorities were investigating the incident.

"We're investigating it because obviously we care. We want to know," he said.

US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the region, said it was aware of reports of civilian casualties and was looking into them, but did not provide further details.

Navy Capt Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesperson, said the US military "never targets civilians".

The person familiar with the operation said the communications complex was the only intended target in Kuhestak, making an intentional strike on the wedding venue or confusion over the target unlikely.

The incident has added to growing scrutiny of civilian casualties from US strikes during the six-month conflict. The Post noted that the administration has rejected allegations from lawmakers and human rights groups that some airstrikes may have failed to adequately account for civilians nearby.

The newspaper also reported that an earlier US airstrike on an Iranian military compound in February struck a nearby school, killing at least 175 people, many of them children. That incident was previously attributed to outdated targeting information.