NYT Reveals US 2,000-Pound Smart Bomb Killed Couple and Their 2-Year-Old Child

JAKARTA — A New York Times investigation has concluded that the United States military used a 2,000-pound bomb to strike a house on Qeshm Island, Iran, in an attack on Thursday night. The strike killed a married couple and their two-year-old son.

Based on an analysis of satellite imagery, videos, photographs and ammunition fragments, the newspaper confirmed that the weapon used was a US-made Mark-84 bomb equipped with a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit.

The conclusion was supported by Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician who now works as an analyst at Armament Research Services, and Frederic Gras, a French ammunition consultant. Both reviewed the available evidence.

The strike hit the Chah-Tangu area of Qeshm city, a densely populated neighbourhood overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. Citing Palestine Chronicle, the NYT located the strike site using residents’ footage and satellite imagery, finding that the blast left a crater at least 30 feet (about 9 metres) wide and destroyed several surrounding buildings.

Iranian authorities identified the victims as Zahra Jafari, her husband Qeysar Jafari, a taxi driver, and their two-year-old son Sina. The couple’s two surviving children, Mohammad Reza and Mehdi, were pulled from the rubble and remain in hospital in a stable condition.

The United States dropped a 2,000-pound bomb — designed to destroy military bunkers — on the home of a taxi driver on Qeshm Island. The attack killed his wife and toddler and buried two other children alive, adding to the death toll in Washington’s escalating war against Iran.