Foreign Affairs

At Least 12 US Service Members Injured As Iran Lashes Out With Regional Strikes

Wikimedia Commons/Public/The National Guard/Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy

Iran launched strikes against a Saudi air base Friday, injuring at least a dozen U.S. service members, some severely.

Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks on the kingdom’s Prince Sultan Air Base inflicted injuries upon at least 12 U.S. service members, seriously wounding two of them, multiple outlets reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. At least two U.S Air Force KC-135 refueling aircrafts were also significantly damaged as a result of the strike, The New York Times reported.

The base, located about 40 miles from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, hosts many of the 2,700 U.S. service members stationed within the territory of the key Middle Eastern ally, NewsNation reported March 1.

Iran has maintained that its Friday missile and drone attacks destroyed one refueling aircraft at the base and damaged three others, NPR reported. The Islamic regime also released Chinese-taken satellite photos, asserting they depicted burning aircraft.

Neither U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) nor U.S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT) immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed in the Iran war since President Donald Trump announced Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28. One of these casualties resulted from a March 1 Iranian attack against Prince Sultan Air Base. U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Ky., died of his wounds from that strike one week later.

Trump told a reporter Thursday that “we have very substantial talks going on with respect to Iran.”

Iran also fired a pair of missiles at Diego Garcia, a joint U.S.-U.K. military base on an island in the Indian Ocean, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) first reported March 20. While the attack ultimately missed its apparent target, it raised questions about the true range of Iranian missiles. The country’s foreign minister claimed the previous month they were deliberately limited to about half the distance between Iran and Diego Garcia.