Overview
- The strike on Qeshm Island's Chah-Tangu neighbourhood occurred on Thursday and Iranian officials say it killed a husband, wife and their two-year-old son while two other children were rescued from the rubble.
- Independent analysis of videos, photos and satellite imagery by weapons experts found a crater roughly 9 metres wide and fragments consistent with a 2,000-pound Mark-84 bomb possibly fitted with a JDAM guidance kit.
- The blast destroyed the family home, damaged nearby buildings, displaced about 20 households and was one of several strikes that also knocked out two warehouses outside Qeshm City.
- CENTCOM says the strikes were retaliation for earlier Iranian attacks on a base used by US forces in Jordan, asserts it does not target civilians and is investigating reports of civilian harm but has not disclosed target or munition details.
- Legal and weapons experts say using a large, air-dropped conventional bomb in a densely packed neighbourhood raises serious questions about proportionality and precautions under international humanitarian law and could increase regional tensions.