Three U.S. service members killed in 'Operation Epic Fury': CENTCOM

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.

Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, the U.S. and Israelis continue to pound Tehran, as reports are coming in regarding targets being hit by Iranian missiles and drones in Israel, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. 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.”