Two US service members killed in Iranian retaliatory strikes – Pentagon
Two US service members have been killed, while another is unaccounted for, after Iranian forces struck American military facilities in Jordan with ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones, the Pentagon has reported.
According to a statement released by the US Central Command on Saturday, the casualties were incurred the previous day as American troops “and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks.”
Additionally, another four US troops “were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals,” but were later discharged.
Video captures the moment that several Iranian medium to intermediate-range ballistic missiles struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan overnight, killing at least two and injuring several other American Servicemembers. pic.twitter.com/cJz39E1LvP
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 18, 2026
In a post on X, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed the death of two US service members, adding that “their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
The latest incident marks the first time American troops have been killed since the conflict between Washington and Tehran reignited earlier this month, Axios has reported. This brings the total death toll for US forces to 16 since the US and Israel launched their military campaign against the Islamic Republic in late February.
Meanwhile, Iranian media has published footage purportedly showing a massive fire at the US Al-Muwaqqar air base in Jordan following the Iranian missile and drone strikes.
Earlier on Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reported, as cited by the news agency Tasnim, that Iranian forces had launched a “missile and drone attack on fighter [jet] shelters and a large parking ramp at a US base in Al-Azraq, Jordan, completely destroying at least two American fighter jets and three other aircraft, and causing significant damage to others.”
Iran has been striking US military facilities across the Middle East, including installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Iraq, and Syria, over the past week in retaliation for renewed US attacks on Iranian territory after the collapse of the ceasefire earlier this month.
On Friday, the IRGC claimed that it had targeted a HIMARS missile launcher in Kuwait, causing “significant casualties and damage,” while also supposedly killing “numerous” American special forces personnel stationed in the country.
In a written statement released on Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that US President Donald Trump’s signature on the 14-point Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which Washington and Tehran inked on June 17, was “utterly worthless and devoid of credibility.” He charged that the renewed American strikes on Iranian territory constitute “yet another indisputable testament to the US’s dishonesty, irrationality, unreliability, and malicious nature.”
Khamenei also warned of more Iranian retaliatory strikes to come.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi previously announced that Tehran had suspended its commitments under the 60-day ceasefire agreement with Washington.
Earlier this month, Trump likewise declared the tentative ceasefire with Iran “over.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, the US president described the Iranian leadership as “scum,” “cuckoo,” “sick,” “vicious, [and] violent people.”
“I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump stated.
He went on to announce that the US military was “taking over” the Strait of Hormuz and reinstating a blockade of Iranian ports and vessels.
