{"id":217704,"date":"2026-07-20T02:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/tensions-rise-in-iran-war-after-latest-us-troop-deaths-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T02:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:05:09","slug":"tensions-rise-in-iran-war-after-latest-us-troop-deaths-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/tensions-rise-in-iran-war-after-latest-us-troop-deaths-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Tensions rise in Iran war after latest US troop deaths – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration is increasing military pressure against Iran after two American service members were killed<\/a> following a recent attack in Jordan, while another service member died in Iraq during operations involving a downed Iranian drone.
“Those great people, those great patriots, were out there fighting that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” President Donald Trump<\/a> told reporters on July 19 at Joint Base Andrews. “Iran has been very, very badly damaged. They’ve lost everything almost militarily. They’ve got very little left.”
In the wake of the fatalities, the U.S. Central Command, known as CENTCOM, said in a post on X<\/a> that it launched another round of strikes against Iran at 7 p.m. ET on July 19. The move marks the ninth straight night of attacks against the Middle Eastern country.
“The strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the command said.
The war with Iran, which began Feb. 28, is nearing its fifth month. The United States and Iran\u00a0signed a preliminary agreement<\/a>\u00a0in June that aimed to halt fighting and provide a path for a longer-term peace deal. But that agreement has collapsed, and Trump has said he considers the ceasefire “over.”
Further, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed that Washington would pay for “seeking to escalate the conflict,” according to Reuters.
CENTCOM said<\/a> two U.S. service members were killed July 17 while another remains missing after Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks struck U.S. and partner forces in Jordan.
“After a thorough search, U.S. military personnel found unidentified remains at the location earlier today,” CENTCOM said in an update<\/a> on July 19. “An examination process to verify the remains is ongoing.”
Four additional American service members were medically evacuated to hospitals in Jordan but have since been discharged, while other personnel treated for minor injuries have returned to duty.
Separately, CENTCOM said another service member was killed in northern Iraq on July 18 during a “controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.” A second service member was wounded in the incident and is receiving medical treatment for a minor injury.
With the three most recent deaths, the total number of U.S. service members killed in the war is now 17. Over 50,000 uniformed U.S. service members are serving across the Middle East.
Iran’s Health Ministry said 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes on the country over the past three weeks alone, Reuters reported.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said it received a report of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz, about 8 nautical miles northwest of Kumzar, Oman, where a vessel was on fire.
“UKMTO have received information from military authorities that a vessel is on fire,” the agency said in a statement<\/a>. “Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO while authorities investigate.”
UKMTO said the cause of the fire had not yet been confirmed.
The strait is a vital shipping channel<\/a> that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war. The recent strikes between America and Iran have heightened tensions over control of the key waterway.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon, on July 19 to discuss a framework agreement\u00a0signed by Israel and Lebanon last month.
The agreement seeks to end the outstanding conflict between the two countries. Aoun will also meet with Trump at the White House on July 21.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the United States is moving back to “Plan A” in the conflict.
“Now we\u2019re going to move forward with Plan A again,” McCaul said. “The military is going to move in, take out their launch pads, take out the ability to send Shahed drones to hit tankers (and) the missiles.”
McCaul said America should reopen the Strait of Hormuz and take away targets inside Iran that threaten commercial shipping.
“We’ve got to knock out these targets inside of Iran to open up the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz,” McCaul said. “That has to be the fundamental objective.” McCaul also said “the military was winning this war against Iran.”
Heightened tensions in the Middle East and \u201cthe potential for unforeseen escalation\u201d have prompted the State Department to issue a new worldwide caution<\/a> for all Americans abroad.
The alert advises Americans to exercise increased caution, noting that U.S. diplomatic facilities beyond the Middle East have been targeted and \u201cgroups supportive of Iran may target other U.S. interests overseas or locations associated with the United States and\/or Americans throughout the world.\u201d
“The Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans,” the State Department told USA TODAY by email. “We encourage U.S. citizens traveling or living overseas to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program<\/a> (STEP), follow our Security Updates for U.S. Citizens WhatsApp channel<\/a>, and follow @TravelGov on social media.”
Travelers are also advised to monitor news and be aware that travel may be disrupted.
The State Department issued a similar global alert<\/a> in March.
Contributing: Sarah D. Wire, Bart Jansen USA TODAY; Reuters<\/em>
This story was updated to add new information.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Trump administration is increasing military pressure against Iran after two American service members were killed following a recent attack in Jordan, while another service member died in Iraq during operations involving a downed Iranian drone.“Those great people, those great patriots, were out there fighting that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” President Donald Trump […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}