U.S. Claims on Lamerd Strike Challenged by Experts Over Missile Origin

Fri Apr 03 2026 16:34:46 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Experts dispute U.S. assertions regarding the missile used in the Lamerd strike, with some claiming it is a Precision Strike Missile rather than an Iranian weapon.

In a debate over the deadly strike in Lamerd, which killed 21 including children, multiple weapons analysts contest U.S. claims that an Iranian missile was involved. They argue that evidence points to a U.S. Precision Strike Missile instead, highlighting differences in missile characteristics and explosion patterns.

Multiple weapons experts have disputed a U.S. claim that Iran may have been responsible for a deadly strike on the town of Lamerd on the first day of the war.

Six experts—who examined footage of the strike and all commented independently—contested the U.S. suggestion that it was an Iranian missile, citing the missile's visual features, the way it exploded, its trajectory, and the number of strikes in the area as the basis for their analysis.

Iranian officials have said 21 people, including four children, were killed.

BBC Verify originally reported on the strikes on 28 March, citing experts who said it was likely a U.S. Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) was used. The U.S. Central Command (Centcom)—which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East—declined to comment for that report.

Centcom then released a statement on 31 March denying it was a U.S. missile, instead saying that footage of the attack was consistent with an Iranian Hoveyzeh cruise missile.

U.S. forces do not target civilians, unlike the Iranian regime which has attacked civilian locations in neighboring countries more than 300 times, the statement added.

When BBC Verify returned to Centcom with the experts' analysis, it said it had nothing to add to its original statement.

Lamerd, a town in southern Iran, came under attack on 28 February. CCTV footage published by Iranian state media—authentically geolocated by BBC Verify—showed a munition moments before it exploded above a residential area. Experts identified it as likely being a U.S. missile based on its appearance, the size of the blast, and the distance from potential U.S. launch sites in the Middle East.

In BBC Verify's initial report, three analysts at the defense intelligence company Janes and an expert at McKenzie Intelligence all said the missile seen in the footage was likely a PrSM—a brand new missile manufactured by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. military.

A New York Times report also found that a PrSM likely hit Lamerd.

Despite the complexity of the incident, U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins stated that after examining the reports, U.S. Central Command confirmed the accusations were false, asserting that the munition depicted in the video does not match the dimensions or characteristics of a Precision Strike Missile.

Multiple weapons experts have stated that the missile claims from Centcom do not align with the physical characteristics seen in the strike footage.

This ongoing dispute not only raises questions regarding the intelligence assessments and their geopolitical implications but also highlights the devastating impact of conflict on civilian populations, as seen in the tragic casualty figures from this incident.