An Iranian reservoir for drinking water located near the Strait of Hormuz was reportedly struck by the US earlier this week following renewed strikes on the region, Iran’s semi-official news agency, Mehr News reported on Wednesday.
Mehr had cited a local official claiming that water was cut off to about 20,000 residents of nearby towns and villages due to the strikes.
Additionally, the outlet posted images of the destroyed drinking water reservoir, as well as photos of munition fragments that a CNN report claimed appeared to be from a US bomb, according to experts.
Around the time of the strikes, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X/Twitter that it had conducted strikes near the strait with “precision munitions from the US Air Force and Navy fighter jets.”
The US began striking Iran on Tuesday following the downing of a US Apache helicopter.
The photo posted by Mehr appeared to show the components of a GBU-39 series bomb, a precision-guided munition produced in the US, according to CNN, citing munitions experts Trevor Ball and N.R. Jenzen-Jones. The former is a US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member, and the latter is the director of Armament Research Services.
US error very unlikely, says expert
Ball added that the reservoir's remote location makes an error very unlikely.
“The munition precisely hit this building, which is in a fairly remote area,” he told CNN.
A commercial satellite image taken on the morning of June 9 shows structures consistent with those described by Abdul Hamid Hamzehpour, the head of the provincial water authority, according to a Wednesday New York Times report.
“Two concrete water-storage reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2,500 cubic meters in the Bamani district were struck by missiles and completely taken out of service,” Mehr quoted Hamzehpour as saying.
It is still unclear whether the US strikes were intentionally aimed at the facilities, NYT reported, adding that if deliberate, the attack could constitute a war crime under international law.
CENTCOM confirmed to CBS News that it is aware and looking into the reports.