The United States military has revealed the identities of two more soldiers who were killed during the ongoing conflict with Iran, bringing the confirmed death toll to six.
According to the US military, the soldiers were killed on Sunday when Iran carried out a drone attack on a military installation in Kuwait. The strike targeted an American bunker and managed to bypass air defense systems.
The fifth soldier identified was Major Jeffrey O’Brien, who joined the US Army in 2012. He was originally from Dallas County, Iowa, and had been deployed in Kuwait since 2019. US officials said he died in the Iranian drone attack on the base.
The Pentagon also announced that the sixth soldier believed to have been killed in the same attack was 54-year-old Robert M. Merzan from California. Authorities said his photograph has not yet been released.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon had confirmed the identities of four other US soldiers who were killed during the early days of the conflict between the United States and Iran. All four were members of the US Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines, Iowa.
The soldiers included 35-year-old Captain Cody A. Hork from Winter Haven, Florida; 42-year-old Sergeant First Class Noah L. Tegtmeier from Bellevue, Nebraska; 39-year-old Sergeant First Class Nicole M. Amor from White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and 20-year-old Sergeant Declan J. Cody from West Des Moines, Iowa.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the bunker in Kuwait was hit during an Iranian retaliatory strike that managed to evade the US air defense system.
According to the US military, these six deaths are the only confirmed American casualties so far since the United States joined Israel in military operations against Iran.
