WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has announced the tragic loss of two soldiers who lost their lives last week amid ongoing hostilities with Iran.
According to a statement from the Defense Department, 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, aged 25, hailing from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, aged 19, from Carrollton, Texas, were killed while supporting a mission in Jordan targeting the Islamic State group. Details surrounding their deaths remain unclear.
Earlier on Saturday, the U.S. Central Command reported the loss of two service members in Jordan, attributing their deaths to defensive actions against Iranian missile and drone assaults.
The conflict with Iran has claimed a total of 17 American lives, according to military reports.
This grim statistic underscores the perilous nature of the conflict; even without boots on Iranian soil, American soldiers face significant threats from afar. The capacity for drones, missiles, and aircraft to reach U.S. personnel stationed across the Middle East has intensified the risk. As diplomatic efforts falter, Iran continues to target American allies in the region, reflecting the escalating tensions.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, has said the war is necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
First fatalities came soon after the war started
Shortly after the war began on Feb. 28, an Iranian drone strike at a civilian port in Kuwait killed six American soldiers. The soldiers were part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa who were working at a shipping container-style building that had no defenses.
A seventh soldier died more than a week after being wounded during a March 1 attack by Iran on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Later in March, six service members were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting U.S. military operations against Iran crashed in Iraq. The aircraft was in “friendly” airspace when an unspecified incident involving another aircraft took place, according to U.S. Central Command.
On Monday, the U.S. military said a Navy pilot died in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea. The Navy initially described the July 1 crash as an emergency landing and said there was “no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action.” The remaining three sailors aboard the helicopter were rescued.
Drones and missiles still claiming lives
The latest U.S. military death from the conflict was on Saturday in northern Iraq when an American service member in northern Iraq was killed during a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. A second service member was wounded and was receiving medical treatment for a minor injury.
The military said it was withholding additional information until 24 hours after families had been notified.
The deaths in the war are not limited to Americans.
Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.
People working on ships, as well as foreign workers and others in Gulf nations, Israel and Lebanon have also perished in the conflict.