37-year-old Maryam Heydari Pouri was killed and nine others were injured, including Maryam’s toddler son, Miran Heydari Pouri, in an alleged U.S. airstrike in Bandar Abbas, Allah Akbar Hill, Iran at around 9:30 p.m. on 16 July 2026.
Miran – between one and a half and two and a half years old – was grievously injured in the strike: his overall condition was reported to be critical “due to shrapnel hitting his chest.” A photograph shared by Fardaye Jonub showed Miran with bandages to his neck and arm. Source ‘Hormozgan news, Qeshm news’ shared an earlier photo of Miran, where he smiled brightly.
Source ‘Farhikhtegan’ posted a video showing the injured Miran being held by his aunt. The IRIB News reporter clarified that although initially news sites reported that Miran’s hand was to be amputated, this was inaccurate, and he would not lose any of his limbs. The reporter specified that Miran’s mother, Maryam, had been struck by shrapnel in her chest.
Sobhe Sahel spoke with Maryam’s cousin, Darya, for an account of the strike. Maryam, her husband, and Miran had been visiting the village of Ahmadi and had just returned home. Maryam’s two older daughters, ages 10 and 14, had been looking forward to her return. Darya recounted that: “Only a few minutes had passed since they arrived home.” Miran had “asked his mother to take him to the toilet. Maryam took her little son by the hand and went into the yard. Less than a minute after they entered the yard, the first explosion shattered the silence of the night. The powerful blast wave threw the mother and child to the ground, hurling Maryam towards Miran. A few seconds later, a second explosion occurred. Shrapnel struck Maryam, while the boy was seriously injured in the chest, hands and feet.”
Maryam’s husband ran into the yard; according to Darya, he “held [Maryam] in his arms; Maryam looked around only once, as if she wanted to see her home, husband and children for the final time. Then she quietly closed her eyes and died.”
Seven of the other eight injured were seriously wounded in the blast wave, while the other “sustained bone fractures after being thrown by the force of the explosion.”
Source ‘Hormozgan news, Qeshm news’ posted a video of residents of the area responding to the strike. One person emphasised that the area was populated with “residential homes” before pointing out several communications towers: “About nine missiles were fired here that night. This telecommunications tower was hit. There are several towers here now. If you look, there’s an Irancell tower here, and another Irancell tower over there. This city is full of Irancell and other telecommunications towers. This is one of the towers that was struck.” The resident emphasised that “several people were killed in this incident,” and said of the suspected responsible party (i.e. U.S. forces): “They really are cowards. They killed innocent people, and many others were injured and are still in hospital. These are private homes. There are private houses right beneath this tower. This is not a military area. It is not a military zone at all. Ordinary people live here. This telecommunications tower served the local residents, along with the other towers.”
A local resident told ‘Hormozgan news, Qeshm news’ their experience: “It was around 9:30 at night. I was sitting inside the house with my children. We were just having dinner when we suddenly heard a loud noise. The children were terrified. I went out onto the balcony and looked. Then I saw the second explosion, the third explosion, the fourth explosion, one after another. When I came downstairs, I saw that everyone in the building had rushed outside. Everyone was in a state of panic and fear. My sister is nine months pregnant and she was scared. Our neighbor downstairs, a woman was killed and her son was injured, his hand was severed. The telecommunications tower was providing services to the people. I went straight to the scene. What I saw there was terrible. The neighbouring buildings had been damaged. The windows of the shops, the poultry shop, and the cars had all been shattered. It was an awful scene. Many people witnessed it. A woman was killed. The shrapnel reached all the way here, and even farther, up the hillside.”
Hormoz Negar reported via the Ble social media platform that this was the third time the tower had been struck during the war.
A communications tower, operated by Iran’s Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), was reportedly hit during the strike. Mehr News quoted the executive vice present as emphasising that “This is a telecommunications administrative building whose employees do not perform military actions, it is not a military base, and they do not have military activities.” The governor of Hormozgan had similar statements: “This place is one of the telecommunications centres that provides the province’s telecommunications capacity.”
Search and rescue operations ended the next day. Maryam’s funeral was held in the city’s Martyrs’ Cemetery.
Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the attack to the U.S. military. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) declared that it had “ended the seventh consecutive night of [U.S.] strikes against Iran on July 17 at 9:30 p.m. ET.” and that the U.S. had “hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities” by employing “fighter aircraft, aerial drones, and warships in addition to other assets.” CENTCOM has not release any public statement about this specific incident, nor the corresponding civilian harm, at the time of publish.