U.S. Media Reveals U.S. Military Dropped Heavy Bomb on Residential Area in Iran
2026-08-02 01:00 | Source: Xinhua
BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — U.S. media have disclosed that during a U.S. air strike on Iran on July 30, the U.S. military dropped a heavy bomb on a residential area with no military facilities, killing three people.
The New York Times reported on July 31 that, based on analysis of satellite imagery, on-scene video and expert assessments, U.S. forces dropped a Mark-84 bomb on a densely populated residential area on Qeshm Island in southern Iran on July 30. The bomb weighed 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), making it one of the largest conventional bombs in the U.S. arsenal, and left a crater at least 9 meters in diameter at the strike site.
Iranian officials said several homes were damaged in the strike, and in one family of five, the parents and a 2-year-old child were killed; two other children were injured and pulled from the rubble.
Photo: On March 29, in the Iranian capital Tehran, a man rests on a sofa amid the ruins. Xinhua/Sha Dati
According to the report, analysis shows there were no military facilities around the site, and it is unclear why the U.S. military struck the residential area. Several military experts said the size of the crater, the extent of building damage, and bomb fragments indicated it was a satellite-guided Mark-84 heavy bomb. One expert said the bomb appeared not to have detonated on impact but underground, and the sandy soil absorbed part of the blast energy; otherwise, the surface destruction would have been greater.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command said an investigation was underway into reports of civilian casualties from the air strike, but did not answer questions about what target the U.S. military was striking, what munitions were used, or whether measures were taken to prevent civilian casualties, only saying that U.S. operations “never target civilians.”
On February 28, the first day of the large-scale U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran, an Iranian elementary school was hit by an air strike, killing about 170 people, most of them students, and injuring more than 100 others. Afterwards, multiple media outlets, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that a U.S. military database had warned that intelligence on several targets in Iran was seriously outdated, but senior U.S. military officers ignored the warnings and approved strikes on multiple targets, including the elementary school. In July, U.S. media reported that the U.S. military had shelved its investigation into the incident for months. (Hui Xiaoshuang)
