This is a developing story.
Three U.S. service members have been killed in action during combat operations against Iran, U.S. Central Command officials announced Sunday. Five more have been listed as “seriously wounded.”
Several other troops “sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions — and are in the process of being returned to duty,” according to the CENTCOM release.
A barrage of Iranian retaliatory strikes were launched at U.S. military installations across the Middle East on Saturday on the heels of a U.S. and Israeli air, land and sea bombardment across the Islamic Republic — a campaign dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
Initial reports on Saturday indicated there were no U.S. casualties. Additional details surrounding the circumstances of the U.S. service member deaths have not yet been made available.
“Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing,” the statement read.
Claims were circulating online over the weekend that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
CENTCOM officials dismissed the rumor Sunday, saying the “Lincoln was not hit.”
“The missiles launched didn’t even come close,” CENTCOM officials said. “The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.”
The assault by U.S. and partner forces began Saturday at 1:15 a.m., CENTCOM officials stated, with the goal of knocking out “the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, prioritizing locations that posed an imminent threat.”
Among the primary targets of the operation were Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields, according to the statement.
The compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was also targeted in the operation. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Khamenei was killed in the strike. President Donald Trump later confirmed in a Truth Social post on Saturday that Khamenei was killed in the attack, calling the moment “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
At least 201 people have been killed and more than 700 injured across Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
The identities of U.S. service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification, officials said.
J.D. Simkins is Editor-in-Chief of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
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