Third U.S. Service Member Killed in Iran-Related Conflict

A third U.S. service member has been killed in the Middle East amid a renewed wave of hostilities with Iran, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, died on July 19 at Erbil Air Base in Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded in the incident.

Swinton’s death follows the killing of two other soldiers in an Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The Department of Defense identified those casualties as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. Gonzales was killed on July 17, and Feehan died of his wounds on July 18. A third service member from that attack remains missing, and unidentified remains recovered from the site are undergoing examination.

The fatalities mark a significant escalation in a conflict that resumed on July 7 following the collapse of a ceasefire agreement signed in June. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed on Monday that nearly 100 U.S. troops have been injured in Iranian attacks since that date, with 96 percent of...