The United States probably used a 2,000-pound Mark 84 bomb in an attack that destroyed a family home on Iran’s Qeshm Island, killing two parents and their two-year-old son, according to a visual investigation by The New York Times.

The US military has confirmed that it conducted dozens of strikes across Iran overnight on 29–30 July but has not identified the intended target of the Qeshm attack or disclosed the weapon used.

“We are aware of the reports and looking into them,” US Central Command spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins told the Times. “The US military never targets civilians.”

Iranian officials said the strike hit the family’s home in the Chah-Tangu neighbourhood of Qeshm City at about 04:00 local time on Thursday, 30 July. Two other children were rescued from the rubble and taken to hospital.

Although the wider war has involved both American and Israeli forces, the available evidence connects this particular attack to the US operation. No evidence reviewed for the investigation indicated that Israel participated in the Qeshm strike.

The Times said it examined witness videos, news footage, photographs and satellite imagery to locate the impact site and measure the damage. Weapons specialists who reviewed the material said the crater and munition fragments were consistent with a Mark 84 general-purpose bomb fitted with a JDAM guidance kit.

The bomb weighs about 2,000 pounds, or 907kg, and is among the largest conventional air-dropped weapons used by the US military.

The investigation measured the crater at no less than 30 feet, or nine metres, across. Footage showed wreckage and damaged vehicles more than 200 feet, or 61 metres, from the impact point.

Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, said the crater, structural damage and apparent guidance-system fragments were consistent with a Mark 84. French munitions consultant Frederic Gras reached a similar assessment after examining the images.

The Times said it found no indication of a military installation close to the house and no Iranian report of military personnel being killed there. Two warehouses outside Qeshm City were destroyed in other attacks during the same operation.

Those findings do not establish what the intended target was or whether the house was struck deliberately. That distinction would be central to any assessment under international humanitarian law, which requires an attacker to weigh expected civilian harm against the anticipated military advantage.

Iranian officials said about 20 neighbouring families were displaced by the blast. Hormozgan Deputy Governor Ahmad Nafisi said the five-member family was inside the building and that rescue teams recovered the parents and one child after finding the two surviving children.

CENTCOM said its two-hour operation struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets, including command centres, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance positions and maritime capabilities.

The command described the attacks as retaliation for Iranian ballistic missiles fired towards American forces in the Middle East on 28 July. The United States said all the missiles were intercepted, while Iran confirmed that it had targeted US bases in Jordan.

CENTCOM has not publicly answered questions about the specific target in Chah-Tangu, the precautions taken to protect civilians or whether the suspected Mark 84 was dropped there. Its investigation into the reported civilian deaths remains pending.