Pentagon confirms three American deaths in Iran war

The US military on Sunday confirmed that three American service members have been killed and five seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury, a joint military assault by the United States and Israel against Iran launched a day earlier.Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions and are being returned to duty, according to the US Central Command. “Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing,” the command said in a social media post.Calling the situation “fluid”, the statement did not say where the service members were killed and added that their identities are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.The US envoy to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, commented on the statement in a social media post, saying: “Freedom is never free”.In a separate social media post, the US Central Command confirmed that US B-2 stealth bombers armed with 2,000lb bombs struck Iran’s hardened ballistic missile facilities in overnight operations.Smoke rises behind buildings after an explosion on the second consecutive day of strikes by the US and Israel, in Tehran, Iran. Photo: EPAIn a social media post on Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced that the US Navy had “destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important,” and in a separate strike, “we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters.”