US strikes kill 5 of wedding party in Iran, Tehran warns of ‘severe punishment’
US CENTCOM says said new strikes came after Tehran tried to attack commercial shipping in Strait of Hormuz and US service members in the region
The United States military struck targets in Iran on Tuesday (August 1) as hostilities flared after a month without military action.
Iran fired missiles and drones in response, the Fars and Tasnim news agencies in Iran reported.
Iran has claimed that one of the US strikes hit a home hosting a wedding, killing five people and wounding dozens.
CENTCOM confirms strikes
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the new strikes came after Tehran tried to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and US service members in the region.
"US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces successfully completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets Sept. 1. U.S. forces struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets including air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine laying capabilities, and communications sites,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted on X.
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“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC (Islamic Revolution Guard Corps) against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members. More than 50,000 U.S. service members are currently operating across the Middle East and remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to continue executing operations directed by the Commander in Chief," the statement said.
‘Will be hit harder’: Trump warns Iran
US President Donald Trump warned in a social media post that if Iran retaliates, “they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings.”
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Trump also claimed that the US has “almost total control” of the Strait of Hormuz while claiming that Iran’s economy was collapsing.
Iran’s state media has said that four projectiles have hit areas within the counties of Chabahar and Konarak.
5 of wedding party killed in Sirik
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the “brutal” attack on Wednesday hit a house in the city of Kuhestak in Sirik county, close to the Strait of Hormuz. State-owned Press TV said that five people were killed. A wedding celebration was going on in the house when it was bombed.
According to Al Jazeera, Reza Shahidiyan, the governor of Sirik County, told IRIB, the state broadcaster, that 63 were injured in the strike and 50 of them were women and children.
Iran retaliates
Reports say Iran has retaliated by launching strikes on US assets in Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq. Iran has warned that it will prevent oil exports from the Gulf.
In a post on X, Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebi warned that the US “will regret its new attacks” and that “severe punishment awaits the aggressors”.
Sunday’s strikes
On Sunday, the US military said it struck rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by launching missiles at US sites in Jordan, which were intercepted, while the United Arab Emirates said it stopped an Iranian drone over its waters.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, Iran established a chokehold on the strait, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passed in peacetime, slowing ship traffic to a trickle. That has roiled the global economy, raising prices worldwide for energy and other goods.
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While Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has long favoured a negotiated end to the war, the most powerful force in Iran remains the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which is pressing for greater concessions from the US, including Iranian control over the strait and financial compensation for the war. Those conditions would likely be unacceptable to Washington.
(With inputs from agencies)