U.S. Strikes In Iran War Kill 13 Troops, Including Maj. John ‘Alex’ Klinner

The Iran war campaign known as Operation Epic Fury has been tied to 13 U.S. troop deaths, including Maj. John ‘Alex’ Klinner, who died when a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft crashed on March 12 in western Iraq.

CNN reported that Klinner died alongside five other crew members aboard the KC-135, and that earlier in the month six other service members were killed on March 1 after an Iranian strike in Kuwait’s Shuaiba port.

ABC News

CNN also tied another U.S. death to March 8, saying a service member died following an attack by Iran on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

The Intercept, meanwhile, said the Pentagon’s official statistics put the current casualty toll at 423, describing the number as rising after “self-defense strikes” in southern Iran.

CNN added that approximately 400 service members have been wounded in action during Operation Epic Fury, and Capt. Tim Hawkins said the vast majority of injuries were minor with 90% returning to duty.

As casualties mounted, The Intercept reported that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that “the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases.”

The Intercept also said Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that talks to end the war were continuing but that a peace agreement could take “a few days.”

Al Jazeera

CNN described how President Donald Trump said meeting with some of the fallen soldiers’ families did not give him pause about the war, while senior officials made clear there would likely be more casualties.

The Intercept framed its own reporting around a dispute over numbers, saying the Pentagon’s official tally of dead and wounded military personnel from the Iran War is a gross undercount, stemming from what one U.S. government official called a “casualty cover-up.”

CNN anchored the personal impact by quoting Klinner’s aunt Jean Marie Dillon on Facebook, writing, “Military lives are not expendable.”

The Intercept said CENTCOM told it, “13 service members were killed in action and one service member passed due to a non-combat related medical emergency during Operation Epic Fury,” while also noting that DCAS webpages still claim 13 U.S. deaths but one put the tally at 14 as of Tuesday.

CNN reported that at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran since the U.S. and Israel began strikes, and that one strike killed at least 168 children.

The Intercept described how the Pentagon’s tally did not include “the more than 200 sailors treated for smoke inhalation or lacerations due to a March 12 fire” aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, even as the carrier had been conducting round-the-clock flight operations to “project combat power” in the Middle East.

CNN also said the war’s human toll is being felt by families of service members still deployed overseas, with loved ones mourning the soldiers lost and the “vibrant, deeply loved people they were beyond the uniform.”

The Intercept concluded that the casualty count continued to creep upward, with the number of dead increasing by one and the number of wounded topping out at 409 on Tuesday, yielding a combined total of 423 dead and wounded U.S. personnel.