US Central Command said on Monday that the number of US troops killed since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran has risen to six as senior US officials continue to warn that more American casualties are expected.
“As of 4 pm ET, March 2, six US service members have been killed in action,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “US forces recently recovered the remains of two previously unaccounted for service members from a facility that was struck during Iran’s initial attacks in the region.”
Earlier in the day, CENTCOM raised its initial death toll of three US troops to four, saying the “fourth service member, who was seriously wounded during Iran’s initial attacks, eventually succumbed to their injuries.”
According to a report from CNN, the six soldiers were killed by a direct Iranian strike on a makeshift operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait on Sunday morning. A source told the outlet that the attack came quickly, with no warnings or alerts telling the troops to leave the building, which was described as a triple-wide trailer.
There were dozens of people at the site of the strike, and it took time to recover all of the bodies. Another 18 US troops have been “seriously wounded” throughout the US military’s attacks on Iran, a CENTCOM spokesperson told CNN.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Monday that more Americans will be killed as the war goes on, echoing President Trump. “War is hell and always will be,” Hegseth said alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who also warned that he expects the US to “take additional losses.”