Three US service members have been killed in action and five seriously wounded, the Pentagon said in announcing the first American troops to die in President Donald Trump’s war with Iran.
United States Central Command did not say where the troops were killed. Two military officials said an army base housing American troops in Kuwait was one of the many American bases in the region that had been hit in retaliatory strikes by Iran, which has vowed to avenge the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier in the day in joint US-Israel strikes.
Several other troops “sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions and are in the process of being returned to duty”, Central Command said in a social media post on Sunday.
While Central Command did not confirm the location of the troops killed and injured, the involvement of shrapnel could imply that the injuries were the result of an Iranian strike.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran had said it had launched an attack on the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with four ballistic missiles. Central Command said the ship was not hit.
‘Waited too long’
Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s new leadership wants to talk to him and that he has agreed, according to an interview with Atlantic magazine.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long,” Trump said.
The President told Fox News that 48 leaders had been killed in the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
“It’s moving along. It’s moving along rapidly. This has been this way for 47 years,” he was quoted as saying in the interview. “It’s moving along rapidly. Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it’s moving along rapidly.”
Later, he posted on social media that nine Iranian naval ships had been destroyed and the country’s naval headquarters largely destroyed.
Bibi confident
In a video statement shot on the roof of the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demonstrated confidence in his ability to step out in the open air, and elation at the Trump administration’s military cooperation.
“We bring to this campaign the help of the United States,” he said, alongside his defence minister and Mossad chief. “This combination of force allows us to carry out what I’ve yearned to be carrying out for 40 years — pounding the Iranian regime.”
There were explosions in Tehran on Sunday as Israel said it was taking its attacks to the “heart” of Iran’s capital.
Israeli fighter jets continued pounding security and government sites in Tehran in the afternoon, the military said in a statement. In a “large-scale” wave of airstrikes across the Iranian capital, Israeli planes destroyed the headquarters of the internal security forces, which “led the violent repression of the Iranian people’s protests” earlier this year, the military said.
Missiles at Israel
Iranian missile barrages repeatedly targeted Israel on Sunday, forcing much of the country into fortified shelters. The Israeli ambulance service said nine people were killed and nearly 30 others wounded in Beit Shemesh, a city about 30km west of Jerusalem, making it the worst casualty event in Israel since the conflict started.
UAE, Kuwait deaths
Explosions again resounded in Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as local air defences sought to repel Iranian drones. One person was killed and more than 30 were injured in the Iranian attacks in Kuwait, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.
Three people have been killed and 58 injured across the UAE as the country’s air defences intercepted 165 Iranian ballistic missiles, 541 drones and two cruise missiles, the country’s defence ministry said on Sunday.
Ships struck The US military said on Sunday it had sunk an Iranian warship and called on Iranian forces to lay down their arms and leave their posts. The US Central Command said it sunk an Iranian Jamaran-class corvette in the Gulf of Oman at a Chah Bahar pier.
At least three tankers were damaged off the Gulf coast after US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Iranian retaliation that put merchant ships at risk of collateral damage, shipping sources and officials said.
A Palau-flagged oil tanker under US sanctions was hit off Oman’s Musandam peninsula, injuring four people, the country’s maritime security centre said without specifying what hit the vessel.
The Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker MKD VYOM was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman while sailing with a cargo, two maritime security sources said.
British maritime agency UKMTO said a laden merchant vessel reported an explosion in the same location, killing a crew member.
Hezbollah
Thousands of supporters of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, poured into the streets in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday afternoon to mourn the death of Khamenei. The new leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, said the outfit would “fulfill our duty to confront the aggression”.