Iranian island again comes under attack

“You almost don’t want to wake up:” Key Iranian island again comes under attack

By Leila Gharagozlou

US overnight strikes on Iran killed a couple and their two-year-old child in their home in the village of Chah Tangu on the southern Qeshm Island, according to Iranian state media.

Two other children, aged 11 and 7, were pulled out of the rubble after being trapped and now are receiving medical treatment.

Chah Tangu is populated mostly by streetsweepers and laborers and found on Qeshm Island, the largest in the Persian Gulf and close to the vital Strait of Hormuz

Footage of the home released on Iranian media showed the clock in the house stopped at 3:36 a.m. local time when the US strikes hit.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei identified those killed as Qaisar and Zahra Jafari “and their innocent two-year-old child, Sina,” adding that several homes had been destroyed.

“With every explosion, with every crime, with every sanction, with every threat, with the killing of every child, you make Iranians more determined and united in defending their homeland,” Baqaei said in a post on X.

The US has resumed striking targets across southern and coastal Iran after a brief lull in fighting.

A sports center in the town of Farashband was also damaged but no casualties were reported.

One resident of Qeshm Island, a woman aged 50, told CNN that the unpredictability of the conflict has made it difficult to maintain normal life.

“There’s anxiety every time I go to sleep. Will you make it through the night, will your friends and family, will there be strikes, will we get a break. You almost don’t want to wake up in the morning and see what has happened.”

Qeshm Island has been a target throughout the war. In March Iranian state media accused the US of attacking a desalination plant on the island.

US Central Command said American forces had carried out a “heavy wave” of strikes against Iran in response to what it described as attempted missile attacks targeting its forces in the Middle East.