Iran war escalation raises concern over civilian death toll

The sudden recent escalation of the Iran war has cast renewed attention on its civilian toll after Iran reported 18 dead in the last U.S. assault, including four killed and dozens wounded at a wedding.

Iran’s health minister said 18 people were killed and 108 wounded in Tuesday night’s U.S. strikes across Iran. The Iranian Red Crescent said four people were killed and 67 wounded at a wedding ceremony near the coast of the Strait of Hormuz.

The return of combat operations has alarmed countries throughout the region, as Iran launched missile and drone attacks against what it said were U.S. assets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq.

The guns had largely gone silent since the previous exchange in July, although peace talks failed to advance in the interim. President Donald Trump threatened to unleash yet more military force, even though the war is unpopular at home and has driven up the cost of gasoline.

Iran, for its part, has remained defiant, despite suffering heavy military and economic losses.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply alarmed by reports of civilian casualties, including a strike that reportedly hit a wedding ceremony in Iran,” and called for an immediate cessation of military action, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

“The Secretary General condemns all attacks against civilians. He recalls that all parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution,” Dujarric said.

The deaths would be in addition to the 3,636 people documented as killed in Iran as of April 7, including 1,701 civilians, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), an independent Iranian rights group.

The U.S. has reported 18 military personnel killed and more than 750 wounded.

“We are aware of reports, which originated from Iranian state media. The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” U.S. Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the U.S. military’s Central Command, said in an email.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society released video showing debris strewn on the ground next to a building with a large hole in the roof, accompanied by still images showing people, some in Red Crescent vests, at a damaged building and a utility tower lying on the ground.

Rubble lies around a damaged house on Sept. 2, 2026, following a reported attack near a wedding gathering in Kuhistik, Sirik, Iran. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via West Asia News Agency via Reuters)

Reuters was able to verify the location using satellite imagery, which showed the fallen tower was 136 metres (149 yards) from the damaged building.

The wedding incident recalled the blast at a school in Minab that killed 160 people at a girls’ school on the first day of the war.

The Pentagon has yet to issue an official finding on the Minab strike, which would be the U.S. military’s largest civilian casualty incident in decades. It may have been the ‌result of U.S. use of outdated targeting data, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Democratic members of the U.S. Congress have called on the administration to release findings of its investigation of the incident, but the report has not been sent to lawmakers.

U.S. defenders of the Iran war also point to civilian deaths that resulted from Iranian attempts to put down street protests that embroiled the country in December and January, before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. HRANA has put that death toll at more than 7,000, while Iranian exile groups claim the number is much higher.

Trump has cited an incentive for Iranians to overthrow their government as one reason for the war, in addition to seeking to halt Iran’s nuclear program and ending its support for militant groups abroad such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

Iran has also responded to the U.S. attacks by threatening any oil tankers that transit the Strait of Hormuz without Iranian authorization, severely curtailing traffic in a waterway that before the war carried 20% of the world’s oil supply.

伊朗最近突然升级的伊朗战争再次引发人们对平民伤亡的关注。伊朗方面报告称，在最近一次美国袭击中，有 18 人死亡，其中包括在一场婚礼上丧生的 4 人和数十人受伤。

伊朗卫生部长称，周二晚间美国对伊朗境内发动的空袭造成18人死亡，108人受伤。伊朗红新月会表示，在霍尔木兹海峡沿岸附近的一场婚礼仪式上，有4人死亡，67人受伤。

伊朗向巴林、约旦、科威特和伊拉克境内其所称的美国目标发动导弹和无人机袭击，导致战斗行动的恢复，这令整个地区各国感到震惊。

自7月份上次交火以来，枪声基本停止，但和平谈判在此期间并未取得进展。尽管这场战争在国内不得人心，并推高了汽油价格，但唐纳德·特朗普总统仍威胁要动用更多军事力量。

尽管遭受了严重的军事和经济损失，伊朗方面仍然保持着强硬态度。

联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯“对有关平民伤亡的报道深感震惊，其中包括据报道伊朗一场婚礼遭到袭击”，他的发言人斯特凡·杜加里克说，古特雷斯呼吁立即停止军事行动。

杜加里克说：“秘书长谴责一切针对平民的袭击。他重申，各方必须尊重其在国际人道主义法下的义务，包括区别原则、相称原则和预防原则。”

据伊朗独立人权组织人权活动家通讯社（HRANA）报道，截至4月7日，伊朗已有3636人被记录在案死亡，其中包括1701名平民。这些死亡人数将在此基础上增加。

美国方面报告称，有18名军人死亡，750多人受伤。

美国中央司令部发言人、美国海军上校蒂姆·霍金斯在一封电子邮件中表示：“我们注意到一些报道，这些报道源自伊朗国家媒体。与伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队不同，美军从未以平民为目标。”

伊朗红新月会发布了一段视频，视频显示一栋屋顶破了大洞的建筑物旁边的地面上散落着瓦砾；同时发布的静态图片显示，一些人（其中一些人穿着红新月会的背心）在一栋受损的建筑物旁，一座公用设施塔倒在地上。

2026年9月2日，伊朗锡里克省库希斯蒂克市，一场婚礼聚会附近发生袭击事件，一栋受损房屋周围一片狼藉。（Razieh Poudat/ISNA via West Asia News Agency via Reuters）

路透社利用卫星图像核实了该位置，图像显示倒塌的塔楼距离受损建筑物 136 米（149 码）。

这场婚礼事件让人想起战争第一天发生在米纳布一所女子学校的爆炸事件，那次爆炸造成 160 人死亡。

五角大楼尚未就米纳布空袭事件发布官方调查结果，这将是美军数十年来造成平民伤亡最惨重的事件。两名知情人士告诉路透社，这可能是由于美军使用了过时的目标数据所致。

美国国会民主党议员呼吁政府公布对该事件的调查结果，但该报告尚未送交议员。

美国为伊朗战争辩护的人士还指出，在美以于2月28日入侵伊朗之前，伊朗试图镇压去年12月和今年1月席卷全国的街头抗议活动，导致大量平民死亡。人权观察组织（HRANA）称死亡人数超过7000人，而伊朗流亡组织则声称死亡人数远高于此。

特朗普曾表示，伊朗人有理由推翻自己的政府，这也是发动战争的原因之一，此外，他还试图阻止伊朗的核计划，并结束伊朗对哈马斯、真主党和胡塞武装等海外武装组织的支持。

伊朗也对美国的袭击做出了回应，威胁任何未经伊朗授权通过霍尔木兹海峡的油轮，严重限制了这条水道的交通。战前，这条水道承载着世界 20% 的石油供应。