US death toll rises to SIX after Iran mounted revenge strikes

US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the remains of two additional service members were found on Monday, bringing the death toll of American military members to six.

‘As of 4pm ET, March 2, six US service members have been killed in action. U.S. forces recently recovered the remains of two previously unaccounted for service members from a facility that was struck during Iran’s initial attacks in the region,’ CENTCOM wrote on X.

‘Major combat operations continue. The identities of the fallen are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification.’

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) claim they have closed the Strait of Hormuz and they will attack any ship which attempts to pass.

The closure comes hours after they claimed to hit an ‘American allied’ ship which was passing through the strait.

The IRGC said the Honduras-flagged ‘Athen Nova’ tanker, was working in ‘unison’ with the US and was attacked by drones, setting it on fire.

The strait is crucial for transporting oil and prices have already surged after Iran forced a near-closure of the route since Saturday.

Three British and America ships were also hit by the IRGC in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz on Sunday as Iran continues to seek revenge for the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The pilot of an F-15 fighter jet shot down over Kuwait was thanked by locals after managing to safely eject from the plane before it plummeted to the ground.

Footage on social media showed the unnamed female pilot beaming ear-to-ear despite being shot out of the sky moments before in a friendly fire mishap.

‘You need something to help you?’, the man recording could be heard asking the pilot as he approached her.

‘No problem, you are safe, you are safe. Everything good? Thank you for helping us,’ the man continued.

The pilot was aboard one of three US jets that were mistakenly shot down over the Middle Eastern country on Monday.

Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday that the world would be ‘an entirely different place’ if he hadn’t axed Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal.

‘If I didn’t terminate Obama’s horrendous Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), Iran would have had a Nuclear Weapon three years ago,’ he wrote.

‘That was the most dangerous transaction we have ever entered into, and had it been allowed to stand, the World would be an entirely different place right now. You can blame Barack Hussein Obama, and Sleepy Joe Biden.’

First Lady Melania Trump broke her silence about the US military action in Iran without actually mentioning the country by talking about the service members who have lost their lives in the conflict thus far.

‘Their bravery and dedication will always be remembered’, Melania noted on Monday as she made history as the first-ever presidential spouse to chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The Israeli Air Force announced it has launched strikes against Iran.

‘The IDF has begun a wave of strikes against the Iranian terror regime in Tehran,’ the air force wrote on X.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday that regime change is not the object of the military operation in Iran.

‘We would love for there to be an Iran that’s not governed by radical Shia clerics,’ he said. ‘That’s not the objective.’

‘The objectives of this operation are to destroy their ballistic missile capability and make sure they can’t rebuild it, and make sure that they can’t hide behind that to have a nuclear program. That’s the objective of the mission.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the next phase of the military operation in Iran will be ‘more punishing.’

‘I’m not going to give away the details of our tactical efforts, but the hardest hits are yet to come from the US military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,’ he told reporters on Monday.

‘I don’t know how long it will take. We have objectives. We will do this as long as it takes to achieve those objectives, and we will achieve those objectives, the world will be a safer place when we’re done with this operation.’

The US military said it struck Iran’s largest naval warship following the launch of Trump’s ‘Operation Epic Fury.’

US Central Command also rebuked Iranian leadership for falsely claiming it had sunk an American aircraft carrier in the Gulf.

‘The Iranian regime’s false messaging machine continues to falsely claim that it has sunk a US aircraft carrier. The only carrier that has been hit is the Shahid Bagheri, an Iranian drone carrier,’ the US Central Command said.

‘US forces struck the ship within hours of launching Operation Epic Fury.’

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has claimed the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were necessary to stop Iran crossing ‘line of immunity’ in a year.

Speaking in Washington, he said the US operation ‘needed to happen no matter what’.

He claimed the regime would have ‘so many short-range missiles, so many drones, that nobody could do anything about it’, allowing Iran to ‘hold the whole world hostage’.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) shared a full listed of the assets employed during the first 48 hours of Operation Epic Fury.