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US Department of Defense says eight service members are still in critical condition as White House hails progress of assault.
Published On 10 Mar 2026
The United States has confirmed that around 140 of its service members have been wounded since the start of the war against Iran on February 28.
The Pentagon said in a statement on Tuesday that most of the injuries were minor.
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“Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 140 US service members have been wounded over 10 days of sustained attacks,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said.
“The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 108 service members have already returned to duty. Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care.”
The statement came after the Reuters news agency published a report citing two unidentified officials as saying that 150 service members were injured in the first 10 days of the war.
The US military has confirmed seven fatalities from Iranian attacks across the region. It said on Monday that an eighth service member died of a “health-related incident” in Kuwait.
Iran has responded to the US-Israeli bombardment campaign that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 1,250 other people with missile and drone attacks against Israel and US bases in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump has not ruled out deploying US troops to Iran.
On Monday, the US president said the war was “very complete” and would end soon. But his aides have said that the military campaign is just starting and will go on until all of its objectives are met.
Asked which assessment is true, Trump told reporters on Monday: “I think you could say both.”
Trump said the war marks the “beginning of building a new country”, stressing that Iran’s military assets have been degraded.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt reiterated on Tuesday that the US assault is progressing ahead of schedule.
“The president and the US military’s initial timeline was about four to six weeks to achieve the full objectives of Operation Epic Fury,” Leavitt said.
She added that the goals are “to destroy their missiles and their ability to make them, destroy their navy, permanently deny them nuclear weapons forever, and to, of course, weaken their evil terrorist proxies in the region”.
Iran has consistently denied seeking a nuclear weapon and insists that its nuclear programme is peaceful, while Israel is widely believed to possess a covert nuclear arsenal.
Following US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025, Trump claimed that Washington had “obliterated” the Iranian nuclear programme.
On Tuesday, Leavitt said Trump will decide when the objectives of the war, including Iran’s “unconditional surrender”, are met.
“President Trump will determine when Iran is in a place of unconditional surrender — when they no longer pose a credible and direct threat to the United States of America and our allies,” she said.
