Iran vows revenge after wedding strike

The United States is investigating an airstrike that Iran says hit a

wedding party and killed five people, including a child, as Tehran vowed revenge and launched missiles and drones at a US base in Kuwait in the latest escalation of the conflict.

US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that Washington was investigating the reported strike because "we care" and wanted to establish what happened. He said that if US forces made mistakes, the military would learn from them and try to improve.

Iranian officials said the strike hit a home during a wedding ceremony on Tuesday night in the coastal town of Kuhestak, along the Strait of Hormuz.

They initially reported four

deaths and 68 wounded, while Iranian state television later said a 22-year-old woman had died in

hospital, bringing the reported death toll to five.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Ahmad Vahidi vowed to avenge those killed, saying the "pure blood" of the victims would not go unanswered. Iranian officials described the strike as a war crime.

The US military said it was aware of the Iranian reports but maintained that it "never targets civilians".

Mourners gathered in Kuhestak on Thursday for the victims' funeral, carrying coffins and throwing petals as solemn music played. A four-year-old boy, Amir-Mohammad Karimi, was among those killed, according to Iranian media.

"If it was a military location, it wouldn't be so painful. This was a wedding ceremony, but they turned people's joy into mourning," Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted a local man as saying.

The reported wedding strike came after the United States launched heavy airstrikes on Tuesday against what Washington said were

military targets along Iran's

coast, in retaliation for Iranian

attacks on shipping in the Strait

of Hormuz.

Iran said 18 people were killed in the latest US assault, including those at the wedding. Tehran

responded on Wednesday with attacks on US bases in Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain,

followed by further attacks

early Thursday.

Kuwait's military said its air defences intercepted missiles and drones launched from Iran. Iranian state television confirmed that Tehran was targeting US bases in Kuwait in response to what it called American "crimes" against the Iranian people.

The escalation appeared to ease later Thursday, with no further major attacks reported from either side. Vance said the United States would not hold talks with Iran

unless Tehran stopped attacking commercial shipping in the

Strait of Hormuz. "They've

got to stop. It's that simple," he

told reporters.

Iran's economy has been severely weakened by the US blockade, but its leadership remains in power and has sought to emerge from the conflict stronger, demanding an end to sanctions and hoping to collect fees from ships using the Strait, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments passed before the war.