How deadly has Iran war become for US forces?

The number of US military personnel killed since the start of the Iran war has risen to 17, according to the US military, after a service member died during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian attack drone in northern Iraq, according to Qatari media.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the latest fatality occurred on Saturday (July 18). The announcement came as the US and Iran continued exchanging strikes following the collapse of a period of relative calm established under a June 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The war began on February 28, when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, prompting Iranian retaliation against US military assets in the Gulf.

Before the MoU, the US military confirmed 13 combat-related deaths across the region, including six crew members killed when a US refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq in early March. One additional service member died in Kuwait in what the military described as a "health-related incident".

Hostilities resumed on July 7 after the ceasefire period broke down. The US military said earlier on Sunday (July 19) that two service personnel had been killed in Jordan and a third was missing in action. CENTCOM also said "unidentified remains" had been found at the site of Friday's (July 17) attack and that "an examination process to verify the remains is ongoing".

The Pentagon has not released the names of all 17 personnel killed during the conflict. However, it identified Tyler James Feehan, 25, who was killed on Saturday (July 18), and Isabella Gonzales, 19, who died during Friday's attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The military said the "incident" remains under investigation.

US President Donald Trump described the deaths of the soldiers in Jordan as "a very sad thing".

"We’re never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon," he added.

Trump later said the US was striking Iran "very hard" in honour of the fallen personnel.

"We hit them very hard again tonight," Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington from the World Cup final.

According to Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted late last month, only about one in four Americans believed Trump's war with Iran was worth its costs, while most respondents expressed concern about the economic and security consequences.

Iran's Health Ministry said on July 18 that at least 50 people had been killed and at least 500 injured in US strikes during July.

From the start of the war until the June MoU, Iranian authorities said at least 3,468 people were killed in US-Israeli attacks, including seven infants, 376 children and 496 women, while more than 26,500 people were injured. Iranian officials also said several senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, senior security chief Ali Larijani and Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani, were killed during the conflict.

By Aghakazim Guliyev