Six US service members killed in 'Operation Epic Fury': CENTCOM

Update: 3/3 9 a.m. ET: CENTCOM announced two more U.S. military deaths from Sunday's Iranian attack. The Washington Post reports that this was part of the attack on a U.S. base in Kuwait.

Update: 3/2, 8:30 a.m. ET: CENTCOM announces that a fourth member of the U.S. military has died from injuries sustained from Iranian attack Sunday. The brief announcement does not go into any detail in regards if this is the same attack in Kuwait reported below.

Update, 7 p.m. ET: The New York Times is reporting that an Iranian airstrike on a U.S. base in Kuwait was responsible for the deaths of three service members, as well as several others injured, including five "seriously wounded" on Sunday. Based on military sources, the paper said the strike took place at Camp Arifjan and destroyed "major portions of an army unit that manages housing for troops in the country."

The U.S. Central Forces Command is reporting Sunday morning that three members of the U.S. military have been "killed in action" in Operation Epic Fury, the air attacks launched by the U.S. and Israel on Iran Saturday morning.

They are also reporting "several" others have been injured with shrapnel and concussions but additional details are currently being withheld pending notification of next of kin. We will update this story as it develops.

This was not unexpected, particularly for both U.S. veterans and foreign policy experts who warned of the risks in the lead up to the war.

“Iran’s regime sees this as an existential fight and believes it must inflict pain. That leaves not just U.S. troops vulnerable across the region, but embassies, consulates, and ordinary civilians,” said Adam Weinstein, senior fellow on the Quincy Institute Middle East program and a Marine Corps veteran of the Afghanistan War.

Trump did not deny that as he said Sunday there will “likely be more” American casualties before the war against Iran ends.

“As one nation, we grieve for the 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,” Trump said on Truth Social hours after the CENTCOM announcement.

“As one nation, we grieve for the 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,” Trump said.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, the U.S. and Israelis continued to pound Tehran, as reports were coming in all day regarding targets being hit by Iranian missiles and drones in Israel, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and even Cyprus. Oman's Maritime Security Centre reported Sunday that that an oil tanker flying the flag of the Republic of Palau was hit around five nautical miles north of its coast.

A leadership council has been named in the wake of the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei yesterday. The new council, made up of Iran’s president, the head of the judiciary, and a jurist of the clerical Guardian Council, vowed to press on in the nation's defense, to hit Israeli and American targets “with a force they have never experienced before.”