Three US fighter jets have been downed over Kuwait in “an apparent friendly fire incident” while flying in support of the US-Israeli hostilities with Iran, US Central Command (Centcom) says.
The F-15 jets were were “mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defences”, officials announced on Monday. All six crew ejected safely and have been recovered, they added. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
There have been fresh attacks by both sides of the conflict on Monday, and Iran has denied Trump’s suggestion that it is ready for fresh negotiations with the US.
The death of a fourth US service member was also announced by Centcom on Monday.
That person was wounded during Iran’s initial attacks, and “eventually succumbed to their injuries”, the officials said.
The deaths of three Americans were previously announced on Sunday, similarly as a result of retaliatory Iranian attacks. Five others have been “seriously wounded”, the US said. The names of those killed and injured have not yet been released.
In announcing the joint US-Israeli operation against Iran on Saturday, President Trump warned that “the lives of American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war”.
In a succession of telephone interviews with reporters on Sunday, Trump said his country’s joint strikes on Iran with Israel could last for about four weeks. He reiterated to the New York Times his view that further American casualties were possible.
The next morning, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said 555 people had been killed in Iran following attacks by the US and Israel across more than 130 cities.
The conflict spread to Lebanon as Israel began launching strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in Lebanon – after it accused the militant group of firing rockets at its territory.
Israeli strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon killed at least 31 people and injured 149, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
At least nine people have been killed in Israel and several others injured, following a missile strike on the city of Beit Shemesh.
Meanwhile, apparent Iranian strikes around the region continue. Explosions were reported in Bahrain and Dubai, and an oil refinery on fire in Saudi Arabia.
On Monday morning, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine gave a press conference to offer further details on the operation, which they have titled Epic Fury.
The joint operation began on Saturday morning with a series of strikes that killed the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures within the Iranian leadership.
The conflict was “not a so-called regime change war”, said Hegseth, but the regime “surely changed and the world is better off for it”.
Hegseth also accused the other side of refusing to negotiate a “peaceful and sensible” deal with the US with its nuclear programme.
