Iran Red Crescent Asks ICC To Probe US Strike On Wedding Gathering That Killed Four, Injured 67 | Sahara Reporters

According to the Red Crescent, the attack occurred at about 9:30pm local time on Tuesday. The four people killed were two women and two children, aged four and 16.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate a US missile strike on a wedding gathering in Kuhestak, southern Iran, which reportedly killed four people and injured 67 others.

The humanitarian organisation made the request in a letter to the court on Wednesday, saying the incident required “an independent, impartial, thorough, and effective investigation” because the location was a civilian site, according to Al Jazeera.

According to the Red Crescent, the attack occurred at about 9:30pm local time on Tuesday. The four people killed were two women and two children, aged four and 16.

It said most of those injured were also women and children, while warning that the death toll could increase because some of the wounded were in critical condition.

The Red Crescent said the strike could constitute a war crime, arguing that international humanitarian law prohibits attacks directed at civilians or civilian objects and strikes expected to cause disproportionate harm to civilians.

The US Central Command said it was aware of reports about the incident in Iranian media but maintained that the United States does not target civilians.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected the US position, referring to previous American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that resulted in civilian deaths.

“The reality is so horrifying that even American propaganda has never dared make the claim [the CENTCOM] is making today,” Baghaei wrote on X. “Sirik is not a story. The civilians are real. The victims are real.”

Neither Iran nor the United States is a party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, meaning the court does not automatically have jurisdiction over either country.

However, human rights organisation Dawn has previously said Iran could accept the ICC’s jurisdiction through an ad hoc declaration covering crimes committed on its territory from a specified date.

The Kuhestak attack occurred as the US carried out a wave of strikes on Iranian coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington accused Tehran of attempting to launch attacks against US troops and commercial vessels in the strategic waterway.

Iran’s Ministry of Health said Tuesday’s strikes killed at least 18 people and injured 142 others.

Meanwhile, Iran’s envoy to the United Nations, Gholamhossein Darzi, called on the UN Security Council to condemn the attack.

“The Islamic Republic strongly condemns this horrific and appalling crime,” Darzi said, describing the killing of civilians, including children, as a serious violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.

Iranian authorities said at least 3,468 people were killed during the initial phase of the US-Israel war, which began on February 28 and ended with a ceasefire on April 8.

A second period of hostilities between July 27 and August 24 reportedly killed 59 people and wounded 666 others.

The deadliest attack during the conflict occurred on its first day when a strike destroyed an elementary school in Minab, killing at least 156 people, including 120 children.

Another strike on a sports hall in Lamerd that day killed 21 people, including four children.

The US and Israel have also targeted oil and gas facilities, fuel depots, industrial plants, airports, ports, bridges, power installations, medical centres and water facilities across Iran during the conflict.