The US Department of Defence on Tuesday said that about 140 American troops have been wounded in Operation Epic Fury against Iran, adding that eight soldiers have been “severely injured."
In an emailed statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said, “The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 108 service members have already returned to duty."
“Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care," he added. This is the first insight into the toll of injuries that have been sustained by US troops after retaliatory attacks from Iran that have also claimed the lives of seven soldiers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Reuters earlier reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, that as many as 150 US troops were wounded in the war. The types of injuries and whether they include traumatic brain injuries was not confirmed.
Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against US military bases since the start of the conflict on February 28. It has also struck diplomatic missions in Gulf states, as well as hotels and airports and damaged oil infrastructure. The Pentagon says the number of Iranian strikes has fallen sharply since the start of the war, as the U.S. military bombs Iran’s weapons inventories and targets Iran’s more limited number of missile launchers.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US military is acting to dismantle Iran’s missile production infrastructure, adding that US B-2 bombers dropped 2,000-pound bombs targeting missile sites. She said the US Army had destroyed more than 50 Iranian naval vessels, including a major drone carrier ship.
Earlier, the Pentagon identified the seventh US service member killed in combat during the war against Iran as Army Staff Sergeant Benjamin N Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky, who died after an Iranian attack at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia on March 1.
Prior to that, six American service members had been killed in the ongoing conflict with Iran. The fatalities resulted from a direct Iranian strike on a makeshift tactical operations center at the civilian Shuaiba port in Kuwait last week.
