On September 2, 2026, at least one missile struck the home of a fisherman named Ali Mallahi in Kuhestak, a coastal town in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, about 30 kilometers from Minab. Dozens of people were gathered there for his daughter's wedding. A second missile hit a neighboring house in the same yard. Additional strikes hit a communications tower at the nearby port.
The casualty figures come from Iranian state media and should be labeled as such. IRNA and Iranian state television reported four people killed, two women and two children aged 4 and 16, and at least 68 wounded. Other Iranian outlets gave higher wounded counts.
One of those deaths is disputed by an independent group. The Balochistan Human Rights Documentation Network found that the 16-year-old was killed by shrapnel while riding a motorcycle near the communications tower, not at the wedding as Iranian media reported. That correction narrows the account of what happened at the house without changing that civilians were killed.
CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the military was “looking into the reports.” He would not confirm that a formal investigation had been opened.
The weapon has been identified provisionally. N.R. Jenzen-Jones, a weapons expert, said the ordnance appeared to be a JSOW, a type of guided bomb, though he could not rule out a SLAM-ER cruise missile. Both are precision-guided weapons, which is relevant to how the strike is assessed: the question raised by a precision weapon landing on a house is targeting and verification, not accuracy.
The strike came during a US bombardment campaign that CENTCOM has described as targeting air defenses, radar systems, and maritime assets in southern Iran. The war began with US and Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026, and Congress has never authorized it (see Three Combatant Commanders and the Navy's Top Admiral Formally Objected to Extending the Iran War. Trump Called It 'a Relatively Little War' and A Congressional Research Service Tally Puts Trump's Iran War Losses at Up to 42 Aircraft and 13 U.S. Troops Killed, as Officials Privately Put the Cost Near $50 Billion).
What is established: American ordnance struck a residence during a wedding, and civilians including a four-year-old died. What is not established is the intended target of the missile that hit the house, whether the house was struck in error, or what verification preceded the strike. The US military has not answered those questions, and the primary casualty reporting comes from a government that is party to the war.