US Central Command (CENTCOM) said a service member was killed following an Iranian drone attack in Iraq, adding to the two deaths disclosed earlier in Jordan, where the discovery of unidentified remains raised the possibility of a fourth fatality in the past three days.
“A US service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury,” CENTCOM said on July 19.
A day earlier, CENTCOM had disclosed the first combat losses in the Iran war since March, saying two service members had been killed and another was missing during defensive operations in Jordan, as hostilities ramped up in the region and further endangered a fragile cease-fire.
In its latest statement, the military said that “after a thorough search, US military personnel found unidentified remains at the location earlier today [in Jordan]. An examination process to verify the remains is ongoing,” raising the possibility that the remains were of the missing service member.
That statement did not specify where in Jordan the attack occurred. Identification of the victims was not provided pending notification of family members.
The main site of US operations on the territory of the Middle East ally is the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, about 80 kilometers outside Amman. US forces also have operations at the Prince Hassan Air Base and at other military facilities in Jordan.
The Wall Street Journal and others, citing sources, reported that the strike occurred at the Muwaffaq Salti base, which US forces have used to launch air strikes against Iran.
US President Donald Trump told the NewsNation network that the deaths were “very sad. It’s a very sad thing.”
“We hate to see it happen. It’s in service to our country,” he said in a brief interview. On July 19, Trump was attending the World Cup final in the US state of New Jersey.
Jordan Condemns Iran
Jordan on July 19 summoned Iran’s representative in Amman to protest Tehran’s missile and drone strikes on the Middle East nation, labeling them “brutal and unjustified.”
The CENTCOM statement did not provide further details on the fatality in Iraq.
US forces remain operating in Iraq for training and anti-terror purposes, although numbers are down significantly from the 170,000 at the height of the Iraq war. US and Iraqi officials have said the US troops are scheduled to fully depart in September.
The newly reported deaths bring the total of known fatalities among US military personnel since the start of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 to 17, with all but one listed as combat deaths. The total does not incljud the missing service member in Jordan.
Six service members were killed on March 1 when a drone hit a command center in Kuwait.
On March 8, a US soldier was killed during an attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
On March 12, six members of a refueling aircraft were killed when their plane crashed in western Iraq.
A Navy pilot was also killed in what was described as a noncombat incident when a helicopter crashed in the Arabian Sea in early July.
Iran, meanwhile, 50 people had been killed in recent attacks on the country, with more than 500 injured. The report could not be independently verified.
US forces as of July 19 had launched eight straight nights of air strikes against Iran, mostly focusing on the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has attempted to control the strait by firing on vessels that it says have not received proper permission.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said four ships attempted to transit the strait without its approval and that two “had an accident and were stopped in place.” The claim could not be verified.
Iran continued to launch attacks on July 19, striking out at US Gulf Arab allies in retaliation for US air strikes, which the Pentagon said were in response to Tehran’s violation of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by both sides.
Joint Israeli-Jordanian Effort Reported
The Israeli military told AFP that Israeli and Jordanian forces had intercepted an Iranian missile aimed at the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
The Jordanian military said it had downed “three Iranian missiles that targeted the kingdom’s territory”, without specifying the location.
The Gulf state of Kuwait, meanwhile, said Iran struck a power and water plant, igniting flames.
It was the third attack in as many days on a such a facility in Kuwait, while authorities said an oil site had been hit the day before.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, AFP, and Reuters
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