21 Civilians Killed in Lamerd Strikes Amid Dispute Over Use of U.S. Missiles
Key Facts
At least 21 civilians, including 7 children, were killed in strikes on the city of Lamerd in southern Iran on February 28, 2026, according to Iranian officials cited by the Associated Press. The news agency revisited the incident in a report published on November 11, after analyzing evidence from the blast sites and their aftermath. An Airwars investigation attributed the strikes to 3 missiles, and weapons experts said PrSM missiles hit the city, while U.S. Central Command denied launching any weapons at it that day. The discrepancy between the investigation and the denial leaves responsibility for the strike in dispute. The agency reported that it was unclear what target in Lamerd had been struck.
An Airwars investigation found that the missiles exploded over a sports complex and two residential neighborhoods. The investigation said civilians were killed as far as 50 meters from the blast sites, and that damage extended more than three times that distance. The agency described the scene, saying photos, videos and satellite images analyzed by Airwars and verified by the agency showed buildings, streets and vehicles "heavily pocked with shrapnel." The material supports descriptions of the scale of the damage and how far it spread around the blast sites. But the images alone do not establish who launched the missiles; responsibility remained disputed between the investigation's assessment and the U.S. denial.
6 weapons experts told the Associated Press they believed PrSM missiles hit Lamerd, including two former military officials. The experts said the use of Israeli or Iranian weapons was unlikely. The agency cited this assessment in presenting the possibility that a U.S. system was used, while attributing it to the experts rather than presenting it as settled fact. By contrast, U.S. Central Command said its forces did not launch PrSM missiles or any other weapons at Lamerd on February 28. The experts' assessment therefore remains at odds with the official U.S. account of the strike.
In a separate statement issued on March 31, 2026, Central Command said its forces had not carried out strikes in Lamerd or within 30 miles of it on the first day of the operation, and disputed that the circulating footage showed a PrSM missile. It said the missile is 13 feet long. The statement adds detail to the U.S. denial of the February 28 strike cited by the Associated Press. In another account of the attack's toll, a U.N. fact-finding mission said 22 civilians, men and women, were killed in a strike on Lamerd that day. The Associated Press reported that the mission found reasonable grounds to believe a U.S. war crime had occurred in two strikes in Iran, while noting that Central Command denied responsibility for the Lamerd strike.
The dispute also concerns the characteristics of the weapon that experts concluded hit the city. According to the Associated Press, the PrSM missile was designed to detonate in the air and scatter tens of thousands of dense metal pellets at high speed in multiple directions. That design explains the wide dispersal pattern described in the images of buildings, streets and vehicles. But the similarity between the damage pattern and the weapon's design does not change the fact that responsibility remained disputed between Airwars' and the experts' assessment on one side and the U.S. denial on the other. The agency also said an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound was near the site, but satellite images showed no damage there; it was unclear whether the compound was the intended target.
Against this backdrop, Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis in October 2026, after a 0.6% increase in September. The unadjusted index stood at 337.511 points, on a 1982-84=100 basis, with an unadjusted monthly increase of 0.2%. November data are scheduled for release on December 10, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. In energy markets, the U.S. Energy Information Administration scheduled its weekly petroleum status report, covering data through November 6, for Thursday, November 12, at noon Eastern time. The release was an exception to the usual Wednesday schedule because of the Veterans Day holiday.