The Pentagon on Tuesday identified Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, as the soldier killed July 18 in northern Iraq during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian attack drone. Swinton was assigned to the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Bragg. His death, along with the deaths of 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, in an Iranian strike on Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base last week, brings the confirmed US toll to 17 service members since the war with Iran began Feb. 28.
One service member remains missing following the Jordan attack, and military personnel are still working to identify unidentified remains recovered at the scene. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said nearly 100 troops have been injured since fighting resumed July 7, with 96% already returned to duty.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the losses directly. “Our hearts go out to these families,” he told reporters. “These are heroes that pay the ultimate price.”
US forces carried out a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran Monday into Tuesday, hours after President Donald Trump said he had directed military leaders to make Iran pay “many times over” for the deaths. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes targeted Iranian command centers, air defense systems and missile and drone launch sites tied to attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran expanded its retaliation overnight, striking a desalination facility and power plants in Kuwait and hitting targets in Bahrain and Jordan, according to Al Jazeera’s live coverage. A tanker was also struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman, the UK Maritime Trade Operations center reported. This comes as The Telegraph reported that the Pentagon is hiding a U.S. missile shortage.
The conflict opened a new front Monday when Yemen’s Houthi movement declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, targeting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea route Saudi Arabia has relied on to bypass the closed Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis said the move was “based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye,'” framing it as retaliation for what they call a Saudi-led blockade of Yemen. The blockade raises the prospect of Saudi Arabia facing simultaneous shipping disruptions on both of its coastlines for the first time in the conflict.
The Strait of Hormuz itself has remained under a US naval blockade of Iran since April, part of the broader effort to keep international shipping moving after the collapse of a June peace agreement between Washington and Tehran.
