Six American service members have been killed by Iranian forces so far in the first three days of the conflict, U.S. Central Command announced Monday afternoon.
“U.S. 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,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted on social media.
Prior to the updated fatality tally, CENTCOM officials had said four U.S. troops had lost their lives since the conflict began on Saturday morning.
CENTCOM did not directly address whether all six were killed in the same Iranian attack, though War Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a Monday morning press briefing that the first identified fatalities were in a fortified tactical operation center when it was hit by an Iranian projectile.
The War Department has not released the identities of any of the six fatalities, and as is their standard procedure, will share their names after notifying their families.
American service members across the region have come under direct attack amid the conflict. The Iranians have targeted U.S. assets in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Senior American leaders have warned that there would likely be additional U.S. fatalities.
“We expect to take additional losses, and as always, we will work to minimize U.S. losses,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Monday. “But, as the secretary said, this is major combat operations.”
Similarly, President Donald Trump warned, “Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more.”
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Prior to Trump’s approval of the mission, the War Department spent the last couple of weeks increasing its presence in the Middle East. The department deployed thousands of service members from all branches of the military, hundreds of fourth- and fifth-generation fighter aircraft, dozens of refueling tankers, and two carrier strike groups and their embarked air wings.
These six service members represent the first American military casualties in the Middle East since two troops and a contractor were killed in an Islamic State group ambush in Syria in late 2025.
