Iran condemns US strikes on civilian Infrastructure as "war crime", vows defensive response

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday strongly condemned recent U.S. military actions targeting civilian infrastructure across several Iranian provinces, labeling the attacks a flagrant violation of international law and a "war crime."

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, the U.S. attacked several civilian areas and service infrastructure on Tuesday night, including telecommunications towers and sites in the provinces of Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hormozgan, and Kerman.

The statement highlighted that an attack on a wedding celebration in Kuhestak, located in Sirik County, Hormozgan Province, left more than 70 people killed or wounded, the majority being women and children.

The ministry described these actions as a "flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of international law" and international humanitarian law.

In response to the aggression, the statement said that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, pursuant to their inherent right of self-defense under the UN Charter, launched "defensive and devastating strikes against U.S. military bases that had served as the launching points for and provided support to the U.S. military aggression against Iran."

Iran urged countries in the region to deny American aggressors the use of their facilities, territory, and airspace to carry out acts of aggression, and urged the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary-General to fulfill their duties to prevent further escalation of the situation.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei explicitly labeled the strike on the wedding a "war crime."

"The truth of this unlawful war of choice - and the true face of the war crime - is in Sirik, where a wedding ceremony was brutally bombed as part of America's desperate struggle to conceal its failure, not in AI-generated videos portraying American officials as triumphant heroes," Baghaei wrote on social media X.

Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that Iran would only take action to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. fulfills its relevant commitments.

During a meeting with officials from the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ghalibaf noted that Iran does not rule out negotiations but views them as a tool of struggle.

He revealed that during discussions on the first article of a proposed Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding, Iran demanded an end to the war against Iran and its "axis of resistance" allies. In contrast, the initial 15-point text proposed by the U.S. demanded that Iran completely halt its missile, nuclear, and "resistance" activities.

Ghalibaf emphasized that Iran and the "axis of resistance" will continue to oppose the United States and Israel.

Iran condemns US strikes on civilian Infrastructure as "war crime", vows defensive response

International aid is flowing in to Nepal from India, China, Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea and other countries following devastating flash floods and mudslides last week.

The deadly mudslides struck the China-Nepal border on August 26. The death toll from the disaster in Nepal has risen to 1,222, according to a statement from the Nepal Police on Wednesday evening.

The aid being sent by international donors includes urgently needed items such as drones, DNA testing devices and reagents, water-purification equipment, and lighting gear. The aid also includes food items, medicines and other necessary materials.

As road connectivity remains affected, supplies are being distributed to the flood hit communities using helicopters.

Temporary shelters have been set up in schools for the affected. Support is coming in from aid organizations who are providing food and other necessary items to the victims.

"When we had our own home we could cook and eat well. But now that we are on the road we will not be able to do it. People are bringing food for us so we are eating. If they did not distribute food we would have gone hungry. I would like to request them to help us, if they do it will be good for us," said Srijana Saha, an affected resident.

Volunteers have arrived from different parts of the world to help those affected by the disaster, including Dr Zhang Haijing, who has come from China with his team to treat survivors suffering from common ailments such as fever, skin rashes and body pain.

"Skin diseases are very common after a disaster, sometimes stomach pain, upper respiratory tract infections, sprains, trauma which includes bleeding skin, ulcerated skin and other kinds of things," Zhang explained.

Thousands of people displaced by the floods and mudslides are struggling to adjust in the makeshift shelters. Amid their hardships, they can take some small solace that they survived and have their loved ones around them.

International aid flows into Nepal as death toll from mudslide rises