Outside the Beltway

Four American Servicemembers Killed, Three American Planes Shot Down

The nature of war does not change; only its character.

James Joyner · Monday, March 2, 2026 · 3 comments

Reuters (“US announces its first casualties in Iran war“):

The U.S. military announced on Sunday the first American casualties of President Donald Trump’s intensifying attack on Iran, as a new poll showed only one in four Americans supported strikes against the Middle Eastern country.

[…]

Iran’s retaliatory attacks also started taking their toll. Although the U.S. military reported no casualties on Saturday, on Sunday it said three U.S. troops were killed and another five were seriously wounded in U.S. operations against Iran.

U.S. Central Command said several other U.S. troops suffered minor shrapnel injuries and concussions as well. It did not disclose where or how those casualties took place. Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the U.S. service members were killed on a base in Kuwait.

Trump sought to brace the U.S. public for more casualties as he acknowledged the deaths, the first in major operations since he returned to office last year. The U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites last June and the U.S. military’s seizure of Venezuela’s president in January did not lead to U.S. fatalities.
In a video address, Trump lamented the deaths but added that “sadly, there will likely be more before it ends.”

“But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization,” he said.

Michael Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said in a post on X: “Freedom is never free.”

While Waltz’s platitudinous remarks* sound callous, he’s right. Even with no “boots on the ground” in Iran, American and Israeli casualties were almost inevitable in a sustained campaign against a well-armed middle power.

Given that the United States attacked Iran, it strikes me as odd to use “avenge” here. We surely didn’t expect Iran to suffer devastating missile barrages and the assassination of dozens of senior leaders, including the head of state, without firing back.

WSJ (“U.S. Jet Fighters Mistakenly Shot Down as Iran Conflict Widens Across Mideast“):

Three U.S. jet fighters were mistakenly shot down in Kuwait, U.S. Central Command said. The six crew safely ejected from the F-15s and are in stable condition, said Centcom, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

“During active combat—that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones—the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” it said in a statement. “We are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation,” Centcom said, adding that the cause was under investigation.

Thankfully, the pilots escaped. But this, too, was inevitable: the fog of war has been a constant for centuries and orchestrating complex aerial operations, let alone in a multinational command structure, is incredibly challenging.

UPDATE: CENTCOM has released a statement that one of the wounded servicemembers has succumbed to their injuries. Post title updated accordingly.

*In Waltz’ defense, he did serve 27 years in the Army and Army National Guard, mostly as a Special Forces officer, with multiple combat tours and valor awards. He’s not an armchair warrior. Still, “Freedom isn’t free” is a hackneyed phrase, and a particularly galling one when our freedom is not in jeopardy from the adversary in question.