President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that Iran will face severe retaliation for the deaths of US service personnel, saying the country will pay "many times over" for each soldier killed. The directive, posted on Truth Social, was transmitted to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Daniel Caine, and all military commanders.
The warning followed the deaths of three US service members over the July 18–19 weekend: two soldiers killed in Jordan on July 17 and one who died in Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. The fatalities bring the US death toll to 17 since the war began on February 28. Another service member remains missing.
US forces struck targets inside Iran early on July 20, killing at least 50 people. Separately, Trump defended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, saying he would not be arrested in the United States.