Trump orders new U.S. airstrikes on Iran after Jordan attack

President Donald Trump ordered a new round of U.S. airstrikes on Iran after an Iranian attack in Jordan killed two American service members at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and sharpened questions about how well U.S. forces were protected.

The Pentagon identified the dead as 1st Lt. Tyler Feehan and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales. Gonzales was killed in action on Friday, and Feehan was killed in action the next day during the Iranian attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a Royal Jordanian Air Force base used by U.S. forces. Gonzales was 19 and Feehan was 25, and the Defense Department said both were active-duty soldiers supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.

U.S. Central Command said the attack left one other service member missing and sent four more to hospital. Earlier descriptions of the assault said Iranian ballistic missiles and drones hit the Jordan base while American troops were defending it, making the strike one of the deadliest direct hits on U.S. personnel in the region in years.

The retaliatory airstrikes were the latest American response to a rapid escalation that began with the Jordan attack and widened into a direct exchange between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. military has said the strikes targeted Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, framing the action as retaliation for the deaths of American troops in Jordan.

Trump defended the response in a brief phone call with NewsNation, calling the deaths of the two service members “a very sad thing.” He said the troops died “in service of our country” and said the war’s central objective was “never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” That line tied the military response to Trump’s broader argument that force is meant to deter Tehran’s nuclear ambitions as well as punish the latest attack.

The Jordan strike came after a string of warnings. The U.S. Embassy in Amman issued a security alert on July 17, then followed with another alert on July 19 citing “a specific and credible threat” and telling Americans to shelter. Jordan has also said U.S. troops in the kingdom operate under a defense agreement focused on fighting terrorism, while the base itself had already become a recurring flash point in the region’s widening conflict.

With two dead, one missing and four hospitalized, the attack on Muwaffaq Salti Base pushed the confrontation into a new phase, and Trump’s order for fresh strikes made the U.S. response immediate and direct.