US fatalities in Iran conflict

THREE American services personnel have been killed and five have been seriously injured in military operations targeting Iran, the United States military has said.

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Iranians gather in Tehran yesterday after state TV officially announced the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shown in the poster

(VAHID SALEMI/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

They were the first reported American casualties since the US and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran on Saturday.

US Central Command said on social media yesterday that several other service personnel “sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions and are in the process of being returned to duty”.

The post on X said major combat operations will continue. It did not provide further information about the casualties and described the situation as “fluid”.

The announcement came after Iran vowed revenge for the killing of its supreme leader and traded strikes with Israel as part of a widening war prompted by the attack launched on Saturday. Blasts in Tehran, Iran’s capital, sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky yesterday in an area where there are government buildings.

Iranian authorities say more than 200 people have been killed since the start of the US and Israeli strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders.