‘Sometimes things happen,’ Vance says US investigating reported strike on Iranian wedding

Amid reports of a strike on an Iranian wedding party, US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday “sometimes things happen” in combat but stressed that Washington does not target civilians.

Vance said the US was investigating reports that an alleged US strike on a wedding celebration in Iran killed and wounded civilians. He said he had been briefed on the investigation but did not have information establishing whether US forces were responsible.

“I’m extremely skeptical of this,” Vance said, referring to Iranian state media reports, which he argued had not provided reliable accounts of the conflict.

“What I can say with 100% confidence is that, unlike the IRGC, the United States never targets civilians in combat,” Vance said. “We never will do that. We never have done that.”

He acknowledged that civilian casualties can occur during military operations, saying: “Unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen.” He added that if the US military makes mistakes, it investigates them and learns from them.

Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said Thursday that at least 18 people had been killed and 142 injured in recent US airstrikes between the evenings of Aug. 30 and Sept. 2.

He said the reported casualties included four people in Sirik, seven in Khuzestan, four members of the IRGC Aerospace Force in Kermanshah and three Basij members on Lavan Island.

Kermanpour also said at least 50 people were wounded at a wedding gathering in Sirik, adding to concerns over civilian casualties during the conflict.

Vance says US is not currently negotiating with Tehran

Vance, meanwhile, made clear that Washington is not currently negotiating with Tehran and does not intend to resume talks unless Iran stops attacks on commercial shipping.

“The president’s been very clear: we’re not talking to them, and we’re not going to talk to them unless they stop shooting at commercial shipping,” Vance said.

He rejected calls for a timetable, arguing that setting a fixed deadline could allow Iran to continue attacks while Washington’s strategy remained publicly predictable.

Vance said the US was using military, economic, diplomatic and other forms of pressure to protect commercial vessels and maintain the flow of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz.

He claimed that about 15 million barrels of oil passed through the strait despite the conflict.

“The message to the Iranians is simple,” Vance said. “You’ve got to stop shooting at commercial shipping.”

He also declined to say whether Washington was considering direct assistance to Iranian dissidents, saying that economic, military, diplomatic and covert measures remained among the administration’s available options.

Vance said the broader US objectives were to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to avoid a global energy crisis.

He argued that American military operations had reduced the impact of Iran’s actions on world energy markets, while warning that Washington would not depend on Tehran to negotiate.