Another U.S. service member has died in the Iran war, Central Command said Sunday, as officials also reported that remains were discovered in the area where an American soldier went missing after an earlier attack.
The latest fatality occurred Saturday in Iraq while U.S. forces were carrying out a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian attack drone, CENTCOM said.
One service member was killed in the operation, and another was wounded with minor injuries when the planned detonation turned deadly, according to the command.
The somber update came one day after two U.S. service members were killed in Jordan in an Iranian airstrike, with a third soldier reported missing in action.
“After a thorough search, U.S. military personnel found unidentified remains at the location earlier today,’’ CENTCOM said in its Sunday statement, referring to the missing service member.
“An examination process to verify the remains is ongoing.”
Government officials said that assault included both drones and ballistic missiles targeting U.S. and allied forces stationed in Jordan.
Central Command said the identities of the recently killed service members have not yet been released publicly “out of respect for the families during the notification process.’’
The US death toll in the Iran war now stands at 17 as the two sides continue to edge closer to a wider conflict.
President Trump has called the deaths “a shame” but argued that the US mission remains critical.
“They did it because they don’t want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said of US troops’ efforts in an exclusive call with The Post on Saturday.
“And it just shows you how bad [the Iranians] are.”
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The latest casualties resulted during the eighth consecutive night of US attacks on Iran, with the latest strikes hitting the regime’s coastal surveillance and air defense facilities, maritime capabilities and missile and drone storage sites, CENTCOM said.
“More than 50,000 US men and women in uniform are operating across the Middle East. They remain highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready,” the agency said of the five-hour blitz.
“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night,” it said.
Iran claimed the wide-scale attacks resulted in damage to a nuclear-power plant under construction, with Tehran’s Atomic Energy Organization accusing the US of escalating the conflict.
“An attack on a peaceful nuclear facility under international safeguards is a clear violation of international law,” the organization raged on social media.
In response to the latest US strikes, Iran also carried out a drone attack targeting US military assets and equipment in Kuwait, according to Iranian state TV.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry accused Iran of escalating the war itself after the strikes also hit one of the country’s power plants and water desalination facilities.
Kuwait City’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy described the attacks as a form of “heinous Iranian aggression” following other assaults over the weekend on facilities overseen by the agency.
Iran also claimed it destroyed at least two US fighter aircraft during a missile and drone attack on a US military base in Jordan.
Bahrain’s air defenses also intercepted an Iranian attack Sunday, its state TV reported.
As the fighting intensified, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reiterated that it was continuing to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial chokepoint through which flows one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
It said four vessels attempted to pass through the waterway using an “unsafe route” with US backing after ignoring IRGC warnings.
Two of the ships abandoned the attempts, while the other two were involved in an “accident,” said the IRGC, while not elaborating.
