Trump vows Iran will ‘pay’ for killing US soldiers
The US intensifies airstrikes on Iran after multiple American service members were killed; Trump promises retaliation.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran will “pay” for killing American soldiers, declaring on social media: “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” The statement followed the deaths of several US service members over the weekend.
The US launched its ninth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran on Monday after announcing the death of a US soldier in Iraq during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. Two additional soldiers were killed in Jordan on Friday while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. A total of 17 US troops have died since the start of the five-month US-Israel war on Iran.
The renewed exchanges, now in their second week, have seen the US target Iranian bridges and electrical facilities. Iran retaliated on Monday with attacks on US allies Kuwait and Bahrain, home of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. Approximately 430 US troops have been injured so far in the conflict.
The White House said Trump would attend dignified transfer ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the fallen service members. It remains unclear what specific “directive” Trump passed to the Pentagon, but a US official told Reuters that before the deadly attack in Jordan, the US had already begun moving additional military aircraft, including fighter jets and refueling tankers, to the Middle East.
In the past week, Trump has threatened to expand targets in Iran to include energy plants and bridges, send ground forces to seize Iran’s Kharg Island oil hub, and bomb a deep-underground nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain. Sources have told Reuters that recent US strikes aimed at forcing open the Strait of Hormuz are also targeting Iranian military capabilities the US would want to destroy before executing more complex operations.
The financial cost of the war is set to dominate a US congressional hearing on Tuesday with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Daniel Caine.
