The authorities of Iran reported this Tuesday that "about 70 people" have been "killed or injured" during the celebration of a wedding that was interrupted by a U.S. airstrike in the coastal town of Kuhestak, in the Sirik county, within the southern province of Hormozgan. The bombing has claimed the lives of four attendees at the event, including a minor.
"So far, four guests at the ceremony have fallen as martyrs, including a child," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard stated in a statement in which it estimates "about 70 innocents" as the toll of people "killed or injured" during "the wedding ceremony of a young Sunni couple."
After the attack, health authorities deployed fifteen ambulances in the area, while rescue teams work on the removal of debris and the evacuation of those affected.
"Some of the injured have received treatment after being attended to by medical services, and others have been transferred to Minab Hospital for more specialized care," detailed the deputy governor of political, security, and social affairs of Hormozgan, Ahmad Nafisi, according to the official agency IRNA.
Tehran promises a response and accuses the West of hypocrisy
The chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, Ebrahim Azizi, has described the bombing as "the definitive proof of the absolute desperation of the false defenders of Human Rights" and warned that this act of "targeting a wedding and massacring innocent civilians" will not go "unpunished."
"Nothing will protect them from the overwhelming will of the Iranian Armed Forces," the senior official stated in a message shared on social media, accompanied by a brief video showing the damage caused by the attack.
In the same vein, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, emphasized that "more dangerous than the bomb itself is the normalization of bombings; and more dangerous than silence is the conversion of silence into legitimacy."
After announcing that Iran will respond "firmly" to "these savage crimes," Baqaei sent a message to the "governments and international institutions that remain silent in the face of such barbarity, or that try to justify such acts," reminding them that "they must understand that their silence is not neutrality."
"When illegal attacks and brutal crimes are covered up for political convenience, the line that separates the condemnation of a crime from its normalization disappears," he added, warning that "those who remain silent today will not be immune to its consequences tomorrow."