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New details about the U.S. troops killed in the fighting there. At least 17 Americans have died since the war started this weekend. Centcom says one service member was killed in northern Iraq while trying to detonate a downed Iranian attack drone, and remains have been recovered in Jordan amid the search for a service member still missing after an Iranian attack that left two others dead. And just in moments ago, the Pentagon identified those two soldiers who were killed in Jordan. First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, a 25 year old from Hawaii, and Private Isabelle Gonzalez, a 19 year old from Texas.
President Trump spoke about the losses. "Well, we feel very badly. But, you know, those great people, those great patriots are out there fighting that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon. Iran has been very, very badly damaged. They've lost everything almost militarily." Let's get to Kevin Liptak live at the White House for the latest for reaction from there. Good morning, Kevin.
Yeah. This has been one of the deadliest stretch of days since this war began almost four months ago. Really ratcheting up the cost for Americans, but also deepening the quandary for President Trump. And the death toll does appear likely to rise. Centcom saying that it's still working to identify remains that were found at the site of that attack on Jordan. They say that two service members had been killed when they came under attack from Iranian missiles and drones. We also understand that there was an additional death in northern Iraq over the weekend, when a service member was working at a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance. Both of these incidents, I think, underscoring that Iran really does retain, missile and drone capabilities that perhaps President Trump may have been, underplaying over the last several months, but also seems to have the ability to evade U.S., air defense systems.
It really comes amid escalating exchanges between the two countries, both sides going after increasingly sensitive targets, including civilian infrastructure. Last night, Centcom saying that it carried out the ninth straight, consecutive night of attacks on Iran. And I also understand from U.S. officials that additional American, firepower is heading to the region, including, F-16 jets, F-35 jets, as well as additional aerial refueling, tankers all now heading to the Middle East. It's all, I think led to some anxieties. As you see, these increased attacks, by the U.S. and southern around that, perhaps President Trump could be, preparing for some sort of ground invasion. And certainly the president. Is that something of a strategic crossroads here as he determines, which way to go amid, this, escalating conflict with Iran? Of course, these deaths I think, just reiterate that the U.S. doesn't actually need ground troops in Iran in order for the positions in the region to be at heightened risks. Those, troops that are arrayed across the Middle East and now coming under fire.
Three American deaths in just 24 hours and ninth night of strikes. Kuwait intercepting attacks once again this morning. What does this tell you about the threat level to the thousands of troops now, not only in the region, but around the world? So it tells us that our air defenses have to be right all the time, and the Iranians only have to be right once. And unfortunately, we did see some some pretty substantive attacks. I'm hearing from multiple U.S. officials that the number of casualties actually in these attacks, particularly in Jordan, was much higher, that there could have been several dozen wounded in Jordan alone and additional, attacks in Saudi Arabia. And that when they hit the, the base in Erbil in northern Iraq, it was actually, it hit a weapons storage depot as well. And there were secondary explosions there. So, quite a sub to attack. I'm told that the Iranians also look like they've adapted their tactics based on previous strikes, in which they have maneuverable warheads. Now, coming off of the, the missiles that are coming in. And that's making it more difficult to shoot things down. So not a lot of information has been released, but that is so far what I'm being told by U.S. officials. The New York Times also reporting that, the number of U.S. troops that have been injured in attacks has not been disclosed over the past few weeks.
Jordan in particular, has been on the receiving end of a number of these strikes. What message is Iran sending by specifically targeting Jordan? So Iran has they've targeted Jordan. And this attack was successful, unfortunately, but they've also attacked on many of our other bases in the region. So it's twofold. It's part of their overall strategy that they've launched in response to the U.S., military action that was launched several months ago. And that is they want to maximize U.S. casualties. They want to ensure that the Gulf states, and also, Jordan, where we have basing that's being used to launch, put pressure on Washington to end the war. And they want to increase the cost of goods, by choking off the, the Strait of Hormuz by holding it at risk. And lastly, they want to cause division within the president's political base. I'm told by many multiple sources in the region that those are the four course of action Iran is pursuing is part of an asymmetric strategy to get the U.S. to end its military operations.
Group chat is back, and we're adding retired Air Force colonel and CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton. Thank you so much for being here. I'm sorry. It's under these circumstances, as the death toll of us killed in action is now 17. I want to ask about, one of those deaths. They were trying to detonate a drone. Right? Iranian drone lands. They're trying to get rid of it. Someone dies in the process. And it reminded me of the fact that the U.S. has had to have this whole system to intercept and deal with drones and expensive system. How is it handling up under the onslaught from Iran? Yeah, well, this is one of the key questions that Centcom and really all military officials in the US have to answer this morning, Audie. And, you know, one of the things to look at here is that, the Iranians have some very cheap, very efficient drones in many respects. So, you know, when you look at to one of the common ones, the Shahid. 136, about $40,000 a pop. And if it's coupled with explosives, then you've got a whole different side of things to worry about. So when the explosive ordnance disposal technicians, you look at these weapons systems, they have to go in and they try to defuse them basically defuzing bombs when they do this. And we know that many of the drones that the Iranians have, have fuzes that, go off after, the bomb or after the drone impacts that particular area. So after it impacts, then it goes off again.
Ken, is this a sensor? Is this adaptation are we seeing in Iran that has not been obliterated militarily but has found ways to adapt? Well, they've definitely found ways to adapt. And sometimes there are malfunction of their equipment as well. So in this case we're probably talking about a malfunction. But, those are the kinds of things that do happen. And the explosive ordnance folks look at these things in an effort to try to determine what those weapons actually are, what they're capable of, and how they actually, you know, how they explode, how they work, and whether or not there are other countermeasures that we can use. So when it comes to those countermeasures, we're looking at a lot of different things. And it's, you know, it's definitely a very difficult problem set because it's a lot cheaper to, throw things like drones of the Shahid type against a particular target than it is to do so. It's not that we're running out of things, it's that we are running out of the things to intercept. Well, there are some things that we're running out of, or at least there's difficulty, like, for example, the Patriot missiles. You know, when you look at the Pac three interceptors that are part of the Patriot, packages, those are, first of all, hard to build. When you look at the rate of production and the rate of expenditure of those missiles, then then it's you, then it becomes a shortage. But the key thing to remember, Audie, is this, Centcom and other elements are moving into a different era where we're actually using drones, against the Iranians as well. And some of the defense systems that we have right now are actually of the cheaper variety. There's a system called the Lucas system, for example, that is a reverse engineered Shaheed drone. And it is about 30 to $40,000 as well in terms of its expense. So, we're getting to the point where we're getting better at that.
Yeah. Fiscal equipment. We're going to need money. You said fiscal equation. I know Hegseth is asking for, I think 80 billion Iran war supplement, 1.5 trillion for the fiscal year and then a 30 billion estimated current cost of the war at this point. What's the political appetite right now? I mean, when you have service members dying, I have a hard time picturing any lawmaker I've ever met saying, we're not going to give money to this. Sorry, guys. The political appetite is such that Republican leaders are using a maneuver that only needs Republican votes to try to push through this. I think in any other circumstance, you would have found some Democrats who are willing to say, well, you know, we may not love this war, but the Pentagon does need the money and the resources. But because of what we talked about earlier, how the president has not made a case for this war, how they have shot no off, essentially no authorization from Congress to authorize these strikes. The Democrats are saying we're not going to help.
Yeah. And I just want to say, when we look at the YouGov polling, this is for mid-July, was Iran, war a wrong decision? So this is people being asked, essentially, how do you feel about the president's handling of the war Democrats, needless to say, 89% not happy independence, 65% saying they the Iran war was the wrong decision. Not like wrong direction, wrong decision. And non MAGA Republicans 51%. Now, I know you're not political, but I feel like every military man who came of age post Vietnam is now aware of how much the public sentiment matters, the forever war generation, how much the public sentiment matters. I don't want to overestimate casualties when, there are going to be casualties and war. But how do you see it, given that people don't think he made the right call going? Yeah, but one of the things that's different about the Vietnam era and what we're dealing with right now is that there is genuine support for the military itself. So when you look at the American population at large, there's a lot of support for the military. You know, I have not encountered the types of things that I encountered the first year I went through ROTC. First year I went through ROTC, people who were against, and it was 1980, you know, who were against the Vietnam War. It was still a, you know, vestiges of that was over. It had been over for five years at that point. And you looked at, you know, a completely different equation. But when it came to, you know, basically with the election of Ronald Reagan, all of a sudden the sentiment changed, even on a liberal college campus. I went to Cornell, and that was a completely different environment. And then, as you know, during the Reagan years, there was a much better sense that people had that, the military was becoming better, that was becoming more efficient. And that actually is true because the military, I learned lessons from Vietnam. They changed the way they did business. And, you know, you saw the debacle, you know, going back to Iran, you saw the debacle in Desert One, which was the hostage rescue. But I think as a result, beyond also the draft and many other things, it's made the U.S. populace more sensitive to deaths.
Absolutely. And I think in, you know, deaths are a horrible thing. It's one of the, you know, if you can call it a good thing is the fact that people realize more what this is all about. In the past, when we didn't have ubiquitous media coverage about military actions, they were kind of abstract. Yeah, that's we're kind of abstract. And that is a real problem. But to nowadays people are very sensitive to it, and they're very I think they're very thankful for what the military is doing. I certainly sense that when I talk to people, in general and it's, you know, it's something we definitely notice.