United States Vice President JD Vance has expressed scepticism about reports of a deadly US attack on a wedding party in the Iranian town of Kuhestak on Tuesday this week, saying he does not trust Iran\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n
However, he added: \u201cSometimes, things happen,\u201d as he spoke about the claims.<\/p>\n
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Speaking on Thursday at a White House news briefing, two days after the attack, Vance said he had no new information about the incident, but maintained that the US \u201cnever targets civilians in combat\u201d and would investigate the incident.<\/p>\n
Analysts say his comments reflect a long history of the US government minimising or disputing reports of civilian harm in military operations.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know about the strike on a wedding in Iran and how Vance\u2019s response fits into a pattern of claims in US military history.<\/p>\n
What happened in Iran?<\/p>\n
A missile attack hit a wedding celebration<\/a> in Iran\u2019s southern town of Kuhestak, Hormozgan, on Tuesday night, killing four people \u2013 two women and two children \u2013 and injuring 67, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the Hormozgan governor\u2019s office identified the four killed as four-year-old Amir Ali Karimi, 16-year-old Mohammad Malahi, 43-year-old Kolsoum Malahi and 43-year-old Zarkhatoun Taheri.<\/p>\n The Iranian Red Crescent said the incident was thoroughly documented<\/a>\u00a0and released several images from the scene as well as of the children who were injured. It wrote to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, seeking legal action against the perpetrators of the \u201cgrave\u201d attack.<\/p>\n Footage showed that several projectiles had struck a telecommunications tower near the city\u2019s shoreline and destroyed it, with locals saying they thought drones had been used. Based on fragments of shrapnel found in Kuhestak, defence experts said it might be a variant of the AGM-84K SLAM-ER, which manufacturer Boeing describes as an advanced precision-guided, air-launched cruise missile with \u201csurgical strike capability\u201d.<\/p>\n The Reuters news agency cited weapons experts who reviewed images and video and said the damage likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the strikes in Kuhestak completed a \u201ccatalogue of atrocities against the nation of Iran\u201d by the US.<\/p>\n The US says it has launched an investigation.<\/p>\n What have Vance and other US government officials said?<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for US Central Command (CENTCOM), said the US was aware of reports of civilian casualties that \u201coriginated from Iranian state media\u201d and was \u201clooking into them\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,\u201d he added, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n Vance later said he was \u201cextremely sceptical\u201d of the reports about the wedding strike.<\/p>\n He said the \u201cIranian state media has not been a very good scribe\u201d about the ongoing conflict, despite the attack being documented by the Iranian Red Crescent Society.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I can say with 100 percent confidence is that, unlike the IRGC, the United States never targets civilians in combat,\u201d Vance said. \u201cWe never will do that. We never have done that.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cUnfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n How does this compare to past military claims about attacks on civilians?<\/p>\n This is not the first time the US government has cast doubt on reports of alleged civilian harm during war, including in the current conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n Minab school strike, Iran<\/p>\n Following a deadly strike which hit a girls\u2019 school in Iran\u2019s Minab on February 28, US President Donald Trump at first stated that he believed Iran was responsible. But as a US probe into the attack progressed, and more satellite data, footage and expert analysis<\/a> pointed to US responsibility \u2013 including the presence of fragments from a US Tomahawk missile \u2013 Trump later said: \u201cNobody did that on purpose\u201d and \u201cmistakes are made\u201d during war.<\/p>\n Civilian casualties in Yemen<\/p>\n The US government has similarly shifted its messaging following several high-profile attacks that killed civilians in Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq.<\/p>\n Last month, the US acknowledged for the first time that an air campaign against the Houthis in Yemen in April 2025 likely caused numerous civilian casualties<\/a>, assessing that 153 civilians were killed and 243 wounded. The numbers mark a sharp increase from 2024, when the Pentagon assessed that US military operations had killed two civilians and injured two.<\/p>\n More civilian deaths in Afghanistan<\/p>\n When a 2008 US air attack against Taliban fighters in the Afghan village of Azizabad prompted outrage over reported civilian casualties, the US military at first claimed there had been no civilian deaths. It later acknowledged seven civilian deaths, before revising that figure up to 33. The Afghan government said 90 civilians were killed, mostly women and children.<\/p>\n Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq<\/p>\n