By Akram Hosseini Shabestari

"I pulled my 11-year-old brother from the burning car, hoping he was still alive, but..."

July 17 U.S. missile strike on a bridge in southern Iran changed the lives of an entire village forever.

In the early hours of Friday, July 17, 2026, a U.S. strike on a rural bridge along the old Bandar Abbas–Khamir road changed the lives of several families forever. The bridge had long served as the old route connecting residents of nearby villages with the cities of Khamir and Bandar Abbas. For years, local people relied on it for their daily commute, and even after a new highway was built, it remained an important access road for surrounding villages.