The United States mourns the loss of another service member amidst the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, marking the seventh casualty from the nation. This fallen hero has been identified as a 26-year-old man hailing from Kentucky.
Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington, who called Glendale, Kentucky, his home, was tragically killed in an Iranian attack on March 1. The strike took place at the Prince Sultan Air Base located in Saudi Arabia.
Pennington served with the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado. Sadly, he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, March 8, as confirmed by the Department of War on Monday.
Authorities have announced that an investigation is currently underway to uncover the details surrounding this unfortunate incident.
This heartbreaking announcement followed closely on the heels of President Donald Trump’s participation in a solemn ceremony. On Saturday, he attended the first dignified transfer ceremony for those who have lost their lives in the conflict with Iran.
The President made his way to Dover Air Force Base, where the remains of six American service members who perished in Kuwait were returned to their grieving families.
The six Americans who were killed Sunday were Army reservists with the 103rd Sustainment Command based out of Des Moines, Iowa.
Nicole Amor, 39, Cody Khork, 35, Declan Coady, 20, Robert Marzan, 54, Jeffrey O’Brien, 45 and Noah Tietjens, 42, died in the conflict.
Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington, of Glendale, Kentucky, died during an Iranian strike at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 1
Fire breaks out at the Shahran oil depot after Israeli forced attacked oil depots, leaving Trump furious
The President told the Daily Mail during a phone interview last week that he was open to going, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt making the plan official during her briefing on Wednesday.
It marked the President’s second trip to Dover for this type of military ceremony during his second term.
Trump also attended one in December to pay tribute to two US Army soldiers and their US civilian interpreter who were killed by an ISIS-affiliated gunman in Syria.
The President attended just four dignified transfer ceremonies during his first term, which sometimes put him in political hot water.
The tragic news comes as the Iran war rages on with the US and Israel appearing to be involved in a major disagreement after Israeli forces bombed Iran’s oil depots in a blitz attack that blindsided Trump and his administration.
The US and Israel summit was scrapped on Monday after the oil attack. Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff canceled their planned trip to Israel for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
Neither the US nor Israel provided a reason for the summit’s cancellation.
Thirty Iranian fuel depots were obliterated over the weekend with apocalyptic images showing fires leaping into the sky, huge columns of smoke, and black oily rain falling from the sky.
Sergeant 1st Class Noah L Tietjens (left), 42, and Specialist Declan J Coady, 20
Captain Cody A Khork (left), 35, and Sergeant 1st Class Nicole M Amor, 39
Army Reserve Major Jeffrey O’Brien (left), 45 and Chief Warrant Officer Robert M Marzan (right), 54
White House officials were stunned by the scale of Israel’s bombardment and concerned that images of burning oil would anger Americans facing increased gas prices – up to $3.4 per gallon on average compared to $2.9 before the war started.
‘The president doesn’t like the attack. He wants to save the oil. He doesn’t want to burn it. And it reminds people of higher gas prices,’ a Trump adviser told Axios.
An Israeli official said the message from the US was stark: ‘What the f***’.
The pressure campaign against Iranian oil reserves mounted as the US Navy attacked three regime ships in the Persian Gulf on Monday, with G7 leaders discussing the release of emergency fuel reserves to quell market fears.
Trump’s two-week war with Iran led to oil prices spiking near $120 per barrel before falling back on Monday morning to $103. The Wall Street Journal noted that the war is on the verge of sparking one worst global energy crisis since the 1970s.
On Sunday, Iran named Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the new Supreme Leader.
Ayatollah was obliterated in a joint Israeli-US airstrike in Tehran on February 28.
It was later revealed on Monday that Mojtaba, 56, has been wounded in the war.
Military members are seen carrying a deceased soildier’s casket during the dignified tranfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base on Saturday in Deleware
On Sunday, Iran named Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the new Supreme Leader. His father was killed in a joint US-Israeli airstrike on February 28
The ‘vengeful’ hardline cleric is already marked for assassination by Israel after it vowed to ‘eliminate’ whoever succeeded the slain Ayatollah, having killed him and Mojtaba’s wife Zahra Haddad-Adel in strikes on the first day of the conflict.
In one report on his ascension to Supreme Leader on Iranian state TV, it refers to him as being wounded in the war.
The anchor describes him as ‘janbaz’, or wounded by the enemy, in the ‘Ramadan war,’ which is how media in Iran refer to the current conflict.
It does not elaborate on how he was injured, although his wife and father were killed in Israeli strikes on Tehran.
An analyst on air later suggested Khamenei’s wounding could have been during his service in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, although the differing accounts could not be immediately reconciled.
The report also claimed that Mojtaba, who has not been seen in public since the beginning of the war, is fluent in English, and has completed psychology courses.
This is a breaking news story.
