A wedding meant to celebrate a fisherman's daughter ended in mass casualties this week after a US missile struck the family's home in the small coastal town of Kuhestak, in southern Iran's Sirik County, killing five people and wounding dozens more, according to Iranian officials and international reporting.

The strike hit at around 9:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday as part of a broader wave of American attacks across Iran's Hormozgan province, near the Strait of Hormuz, that US Central Command said targeted air defenses, radar sites and anti-ship missile launchers. Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed a direct hit on the roof of the house where guests had gathered, moments after a nearby telecommunications tower was also destroyed.

Hormozgan's governor's office identified four of the dead as 4-year-old Amir Ali Karimi, 16-year-old Mohammad Malahi, and two 43-year-old women, Kolsoum Malahi and Zarkhatoun Taheri. State television later reported a fifth victim, a 22-year-old woman, died of her wounds in hospital. More than 60 others were injured, several critically.

Iran takes its case to The Hague

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei branded the strike a "brutal" act and a "war crime," and on Wednesday the Iranian Red Crescent Society went further, sending a formal letter to the International Criminal Court asking prosecutors to open an independent investigation into the attack, arguing international law bars strikes on civilian gatherings or attacks that risk disproportionate civilian harm.

The attack warrants "an independent, impartial, thorough, and effective investigation" given the "civilian character of the location," the Red Crescent wrote in its letter to the court.

The legal path is far from straightforward: neither the United States nor Iran is a signatory to the ICC's Rome Statute, meaning the court has no automatic jurisdiction over either country. Iran could still ask the court to accept ad hoc jurisdiction over crimes committed on its soil, a maneuver reported by The Times of Israel as Tehran's most likely next step.

US Central Command said it was aware of the reports circulating in Iranian media but maintained it does not target civilians. Iran's Foreign Ministry rejected that denial outright, with Baghaei pointing to past US strikes that killed civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of what he called a pattern.

A war with no sign of slowing

The wedding strike lands amid what regional trackers now count as roughly six months of open conflict between US and Iranian forces. In the days since, Iran has fired missiles and drones at American allies and interests across the Gulf, and Washington has continued strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, according to DAWN's coverage of the escalating exchange. Neither side has signaled a path toward de-escalation.

For now, the Kuhestak case has become a flashpoint in the broader argument over civilian harm in the conflict, with human rights advocates watching to see whether the ICC responds to the Red Crescent's request, and whether the death toll from the strike climbs further as the wounded remain in area hospitals.