WASHINGTON, March 1 - The U.S. military on Sunday acknowledged the first American combat fatalities linked to President Donald Trump’s expanding assault on Iran, as a new public-opinion poll indicated that only about one in four Americans approve of the strikes.
U.S. officials said the campaign has intensified since Saturday, when Trump ordered major combat operations to begin. The Pentagon reported that U.S. aircraft and warships have struck in excess of 1,000 Iranian targets since the initiation of those operations. Among the weapons used were B-2 stealth bombers deploying 2,000-pound munitions against hardened, underground Iranian missile facilities, the military said.
In his own public statements, President Trump said 48 Iranian leaders had been killed and asserted that U.S. forces had begun sinking elements of Iran’s Navy, destroying nine Iranian warships so far and "going after the rest."
U.S. military officials on Sunday said that three U.S. troops were killed and another five were seriously wounded in the operations against Iran. Several additional service members sustained minor shrapnel wounds and concussions, Central Command said, without providing details on where or how those casualties occurred. Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the service members were killed on a base in Kuwait.
Until Sunday, U.S. authorities had reported no fatalities related to the campaign. President Trump, acknowledging the deaths in a video address, sought to prepare the American public for additional losses, saying that "sadly, there will likely be more before it ends." He added that "America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization."
Michael Waltz, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, echoed a similar sentiment on social media, saying, "Freedom is never free."
As the military campaign continued into its second day, officials indicated the strikes have targeted a broad mix of military and naval assets. In addition to the large munitions used against subterranean missile facilities, U.S. forces have attacked numerous other targets as part of a planned multi-day operation. Trump has described the campaign as one that could span weeks, telling the Daily Mail that such strikes "could go on for four weeks" and that "it's always been about a four-week process."
Iran’s retaliatory actions have exacted a toll on U.S. personnel and equipment, according to the military's casualty reports. Iran’s foreign minister posted that the country’s forces had studied outcomes of U.S. military campaigns to Iran’s east and west and said those lessons were incorporated, adding that "bombings in our capital have no impact on our ability to conduct war."
The developments followed the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, which further unsettled the Middle East and global markets. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a temporary leadership council made up of himself, the head of the judiciary and a member of the Guardian Council had assumed the duties of the supreme leader after Khamenei’s death.
Public reaction in the United States appeared mixed. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Sunday found that 27% of Americans approved of the strikes, 43% disapproved and 29% were unsure. Roughly nine in 10 respondents said they had heard at least a little about the strikes.
Within Washington, political figures expressed differing views about the likely outcomes and objectives of the campaign. Democratic Senator Chris Coons said he did not see how regime change in Iran could be achieved through the current operation, noting on CNN's "State of the Union" that he was unaware of an example in modern history where regime change occurred "solely through air strikes."
Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East, described the apparent U.S. and Israeli approach as one aimed not only at degrading Iran's military response capability but also at destabilizing its regime by targeting senior leadership and probing the loyalty of security forces. He said the success of that strategy would depend in part on whether Iran's security forces stand aside or defect if public unrest re-emerges.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, cautioned that "there's no simple answer for what's going to come next," while Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally and defense hawk, urged Iranians to choose their own leaders and rejected a strict "you break it, you own it" line of thinking during a discussion on NBC's "Meet the Press." He said, "This is not Iraq. This is not Germany. This is not Japan. We're going to free the people up from a terrorist regime."
Officials have emphasized planning for a sustained operation. U.S. authorities said to expect a multi-day campaign, and the president's public remarks framed the effort as potentially extending into several weeks. Meanwhile, Iran's officials have indicated their forces remain capable of mounting continued resistance despite strikes on their territory and leadership losses.
For now, many specifics remain limited by official discretion. Central Command declined to provide details about where and how U.S. casualties occurred, and several officials spoke on condition of anonymity when offering limited particulars about the fatalities.
As the campaign unfolds, the human toll and the broader geopolitical consequences are likely to remain focal points for U.S. policymakers, regional governments and markets worldwide, which have already shown sensitivity to disruptions in shipping, air travel and oil supplies amid the escalating conflict.