Three U.S. service members were killed and five others were seriously wounded during the opening day of Operation Epic Fury, according to U.S. Central Command.
“Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions — and are in the process of being returned to duty. Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing,” the post stated on the social media platform X.
“The situation is fluid, so out of respect for the families, we will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified,” the post said.
Central Command did not disclose where or how the fatalities took place. A report from NBC, citing “two U.S. officials” who were not identified, said the dead service members were Army soldiers based in Kuwait.
In response to the American and Israeli attacks on Iran that took place Saturday, Iran lobbed missiles at multiple American bases in the Middle East.
On Saturday night, the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia was under attack from Iranian ballistic missiles, according to a report in the New York Post. The base was being defended by Saudi forces.
As claims and counterclaims emerged in the first day of fighting. Central Command said in a post on X that not all Iranian claims are true.
“Iran’s IRGC claims to have struck USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles. LIE. The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close. 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 post said.
Israel bore the brunt of the Iranian retaliation. A Sunday afternoon missile attack in a Jerusalem suburb left nine people dead and about 40 wounded after a synagogue and public bomb shelter were hit, according to the Times of Israel.
The death toll of the Iranian ballistic missile impact in Beit Shemesh rises to nine, after first responders extracted another body from under the rubble. pic.twitter.com/5CXavQjE5p
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 1, 2026
At least four were killed in Iranian missile attacks that struck targets in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, according to official reports tallied by The New York Times.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iranian leaders running the country after the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli attack on Saturday, want to talk.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump told The Atlantic magazine. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
Earlier, Trump bristled in a social media post when Iran said it would strike back hard.
“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” he wrote on the Truth Social social media platform.
The American military says it sank an Iranian Navy Jamaran-class corvette during the opening strikes of the joint US-Israeli operation against Iran.
“The ship is currently sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Oman at a Chah Bahar pier,” the US Central Command says.
Satellite… pic.twitter.com/kWtJ1WKdG1
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 1, 2026
Trump noted the U.S. successes in another Truth Social post.
“I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important. We are going after the rest — They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also! In a different attack, we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters. Other than that, their Navy is doing very well!” Trump wrote.
In his message to the American people Saturday announcing the beginning of the fight with Iran, the president noted that “the Iranian regime seeks to kill” and that “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we’re doing this — not for now — we’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”
“We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm’s way, and we trust that with His help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail,” Trump said.
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