Military: 3 US Troops Killed in Attacks03/02 06:10

   Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously 
wounded during the U.S. attacks on Iran, the military announced Sunday, marking 
the first American casualties in a major offensive that President Donald Trump 
said could likely lead to more losses in the coming weeks.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three American service members have been killed and five 
others seriously wounded during the U.S. attacks on Iran, the military 
announced Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive 
that President Donald Trump said could likely lead to more losses in the coming 
weeks.

   The three who were killed were U.S. Army soldiers deployed to Kuwait as part 
of a unit that oversees supplies and logistics, according to a person familiar 
with the situation who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on 
condition of anonymity. The development was reported earlier by NBC News and 
The Washington Post.

   U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths 
in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred as the Islamic 
Republic retaliates over the joint strikes by the U.S. and Israel. The post 
said "several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions" and 
were going to return to duty.

   "We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and 
eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen," Trump said in a video posted 
to his Truth Social platform on Sunday afternoon. "And sadly, there will likely 
be more before it ends. That's the way it is. Likely be more, but we'll do 
everything possible where that won't be the case."

   In the roughly six-minute video, Trump called those killed "true American 
patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we 
continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives." He said the 
U.S. will avenge their deaths.

   Trump earlier told the Daily Mail in a phone interview Sunday that the U.S. 
troops who were killed were "great people."

   "You know, we expect that to happen, unfortunately," Trump told the 
newspaper. "Could happen continuous -- it could happen again."

   He also told the Daily Mail that he believes the conflict could last for 
"four weeks or so." He had previously warned that American troops could be 
killed or injured in the operation.

   "The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have 
casualties," the Republican president said in a video address released early 
Saturday. "That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're 
doing this for the future."

   Central Command, meanwhile, described the situation "as fluid" and said it 
would withhold the identities of the service members who were killed for 24 
hours after their families were notified.

   Following the U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader 
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders, Iran's counterattacks have struck 
U.S. bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

   The U.S. military denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln 
aircraft carrier was struck with ballistic missiles, saying on X that the 
"missiles launched didn't even come close."

   Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its "most 
intense offensive operation" ever targeting Israeli and American military 
installations.

   Before the strikes, Trump had built up the largest U.S. military presence in 
the Middle East in decades. The arrival of the Lincoln and three accompanying 
guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of 
warships in the region.

   The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four 
accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to 
the Middle East.

   The Ford was part of the U.S. raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicols 
Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The 
operation in January claimed no American lives but left seven U.S. troops with 
gunshot wounds and shrapnel-related injuries.

   One of those injured received the Medal of Honor during Trump's State of the 
Union address last week. Trump said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover 
piloted the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter that descended on the "heavily 
protected military fortress" where Maduro was staying.

   Trump has launched several military operations during his second term, 
including strikes on members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation 
for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian 
interpreter in December.

   The U.S. military has also struck IS forces in Nigeria, after Trump accused 
the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of 
Christians.