WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Monday identified two soldiers killed in action last week as part of the war with Iran. The Defense Department said in a statement that 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed in Jordan, where they were supporting a U.S. mission against the Islamic State group. It’s unclear how they were killed. On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command said two service members were killed in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. The U.S. military has said the total number of deaths in the war with Iran is 17.The deaths reflect the complicated reality that American soldiers don’t need to be on the ground in Iran for there to be lethal risks in a conflict that involves drones, missiles and airplanes. American forces are arrayed across the Middle East, making other nations targets of Iran as the fighting has escalated after a breakdown in peace talks.President Donald Trump, a Republican, has said the war is necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
First fatalities came soon after the war startedShortly after the war began on Feb. 28, an Iranian drone strike at a civilian port in Kuwait killed six American soldiers. The soldiers were part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa who were working at a shipping container-style building that had no defenses.A seventh soldier died more than a week after being wounded during a March 1 attack by Iran on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
