Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency has released images showing what it says is a drinking water reservoir destroyed in a missile strike, along with fragments of munitions that weapons experts told CNN appear to be from a US-made bomb.
CNN said it could not independently verify that the munition debris shown in the images was recovered from the strike site.
However, the water tank damage was first geolocated to southern Iran by an independent researcher known as “acceladealer” on X and later confirmed by CNN.
The photos, published on June 10, 2026, reportedly show remnants of a precision-guided munition that struck a water reservoir in southern Iran.
Weapons experts who examined the images identified the fragments as likely belonging to a GBU-39 series munition.
Analysts noted that both Israel and some Gulf states also possess the weapon, and one expert, Ball, said the destruction of the tank was broadly consistent with damage caused by a GBU-39.
The United States recently carried out strikes on Iran following Iran’s downing of a US helicopter, though it remains unclear whether the water facility was directly hit in those operations.
A US Central Command spokesperson, Capt. Timothy Hawkins, said the command was aware of the reports and was investigating the incident, but declined to provide further details about the water facility.
Civilian infrastructure such as water facilities is protected under the Geneva Convention.
Earlier in March, US President Donald Trump had suggested in a Truth Social post the possibility of targeting Iran’s water desalination plants, a remark that triggered concern among US allies in the Gulf region.
Following the reported strikes, Mehr quoted Abdul Hamid Hamzehpour, head of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, as saying, “Two concrete water-storage reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2,500 cubic meters in the Bamani district were struck by missiles and completely taken out of service.”
Iran’s Tasnim news agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the reservoirs served at least 20,000 residents.
The published images show only one of the two damaged tanks, with its roof collapsed and debris scattered around the site.
Satellite measurements reviewed alongside the photos suggest the structure, fitted with large inlet pipes, may have held around half a million litres of water.
Military analyst Ball added that if the tank was destroyed during the broader US operation, the location of the impact makes a guidance error unlikely.
“It’s possible there was an error in targeting this building specifically, but a munition error is very unlikely,” Ball told CNN. “The munition precisely hit this building which is in a fairly remote area.”
