17 U.S. troops killed since war with Iran began in February
The Pentagon on Monday identified the two U.S. soldiers killed in an Iranian ballistic missile and drone strike on a military base in Jordan on Friday, marking the first American troop deaths since a brief peace deal between the countries collapsed earlier this month.
Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base when it was struck by Iranian missiles and drones, the Defense Department said. Feehan was assigned to the 32nd Army Air Missile Defense Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Gonzales was assigned to the 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command in Ansbach, Germany.
Four additional U.S. troops were injured in the strike, the Pentagon said.
The deaths of Feehan and Gonzales were the first U.S. troop fatalities since the United States and Iran briefly reached a peace deal earlier this month. The agreement collapsed, and the two countries have since traded strikes for nine consecutive nights, according to the Pentagon.
Since the war began in February, 17 U.S. troops have been killed, including a soldier who died in Iraq on Saturday during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian attack drone. That soldier has not been publicly identified.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that U.S. strikes over the weekend were in “honor” of the “probably three” soldiers killed in Jordan and Iraq. U.S. Central Command said Saturday that it had begun launching new airstrikes against Iran at Trump’s direction, according to the Defense Department.