Iran accuses US of deadly missile strike killing 24 in Lamerd during joint operations with Israel
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has accused the United States of launching a missile strike on a residential area in the southern city of Lamerd, Fars province, killing at least 24 people on the opening day of joint US-Israel military operations against Iran.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei posted the accusation on X, stating that the February 28 strike hit Lamerd and struck a sports hall, citing a briefing from a local member of parliament. The dead reportedly include children from a women’s volleyball team.
What happened in Lamerd
The strike targeted a sports hall in Lamerd, a city in Fars province in Iran’s south. At least 21 people were confirmed killed at the site, with roughly 100 injured. Four of the dead were children.
Iranian sources have cited up to 24 total fatalities when factoring in related military actions throughout the surrounding area on the same day. The strike occurred on what has been described as the inaugural day of joint US-Israel operations against Iran.
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Baghaei accused the US of deploying a Precision Strike Missile, known as PrSM, a relatively new addition to the American military arsenal designed for long-range, high-accuracy targeting. He labeled the attack a war crime.
US Central Command, or CENTCOM, has denied involvement entirely. Its position is that the damage was caused by an Iranian Hoveyzeh cruise missile, effectively suggesting Iran’s own weaponry was responsible for the civilian deaths.
Both The New York Times and BBC Verify have examined available footage from the site and concluded that the damage patterns are more consistent with a US PrSM than with an Iranian cruise missile.
The broader military context
The Lamerd strike did not occur in isolation. A separate airstrike in Minab on the same day reportedly resulted in the deaths of 175 individuals. Iran has claimed over 600 educational institutions were damaged in subsequent weeks, characterizing these attacks as systematic assaults on civilian infrastructure.
The PrSM is a next-generation tactical missile developed by Lockheed Martin for the US Army, designed to replace older systems with greater range and precision. Its deployment in this context, if confirmed by the independent analyses, would mark one of its first known uses in active combat operations.
What this means for crypto and broader markets
As of late May 2026, no observable impacts on the cryptocurrency market were tied specifically to the Lamerd strike. Crypto markets tend to respond more sharply to macroeconomic policy shifts, regulatory actions, and liquidity conditions than to individual military events.
Iran is a significant oil producer, and sustained military operations in the region could disrupt supply or trigger sanctions enforcement that tightens global energy markets. Historically, tighter sanctions regimes have pushed some actors toward crypto as a means of circumventing traditional financial rails, drawing intense regulatory scrutiny and enforcement actions that have previously rippled across the industry.