Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the U.S. attack on Iran, the military announced Sunday, marking the first American casualties in an offensive that President Donald Trump said could last weeks.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred as the Islamic Republic retaliates over the joint strikes by the U.S. and Israel. The post said “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions.”
“We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen,” Trump said in a pre-recorded video posted to Truth Social on Sunday afternoon. “And sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more, but we’ll do everything possible where that won’t be the case.”
Trump called those killed “true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives.” He said the U.S. will avenge their deaths.
In an interview with the Daily Mail later in the day, Trump said the U.S. troops who were killed were “great people.”
“You know, we expect that to happen, unfortunately,” Trump told the newspaper. “Could happen continuous — it could happen again.”
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” the president said in a pre-recorded video on Saturday. “That often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future.”
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever, targeting Israeli and American military installations.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East.
