First US troops killed in Middle East conflict
Three US soldiers were killed and five were seriously injured during US attacks on Iran; this was the first American casualties in a major attack that sparked retaliation by the Islamic Republic.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when or where they occurred.
The statement stated that “several people suffered minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and that they would return to duty.
Central Command described the situation as “temporary” and said the identities of the killed soldiers would be kept for 24 hours after their families were notified.
The US military also denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was hit by ballistic missiles, saying “the missiles launched did not even come close” at X.
President Donald Trump had warned that American soldiers could be killed or injured in the operation.
“The lives of brave American heroes may be lost, and we may suffer casualties,” the Republican president said in a video speech released Saturday.
“This often happens in war. But we’re not doing this for now. We’re doing this for the future.”
Following US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders, Iranian counterstrikes hit US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation ever” targeting Israeli and American military installations.
Before the attacks, Trump had established the largest US military presence in the Middle East in recent years. The arrival of Lincoln and its three accompanying guided-missile destroyers in late January increased the number of warships in the region.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, and its four accompanying destroyers were then sent to the Middle East from the Caribbean Sea.
Ford was part of the US raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
Trump launched several military operations during his second term, including attacks against members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation for an ambush attack in December that killed two US soldiers and an American civilian translator.
The US military also struck ISIS forces in Nigeria after Trump accused the West African country’s government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
