President Donald Trump pledged Monday that Iran will pay “many times over” for each American service member it kills.
Trump took to Truth Social with his message in the afternoon.
“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump wrote. “This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine, and every Leader in the Military.”
The post comes after Iran killed three U.S. service members over the weekend. Two U.S. service members were killed, and another remains missing, following an Iranian attack on a U.S. base in Jordan on Friday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced this weekend.
Army Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, and 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, have been identified as the soldiers killed.
Four other service members were medically evacuated to hospitals as a result of Iran’s drone and ballistic missile attacks in Jordan. They have been discharged.
On Saturday, another U.S. service member was killed in northern Iran “during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone,” CENTCOM said.
Another service member is receiving treatment for what is described as a “minor injury.”
Trump said on Sunday that the United States, carrying out its ninth consecutive night of strikes on Iran, hit Iran “very hard” in retaliation for the killing of the three service members.
“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honor of the probably three — it’s probably three, as opposed to two — great patriots,” Trump told reporters after the World Cup final, adding that Iran has been “very, very, badly damaged.”
“They’ve lost everything, almost, militarily,” he said. “They’ve got very little left. They’ve got some missiles. They’ve got some drones. They’ve got some manufacturing ability — not much.”
“We control the strait. They don’t control anything,” Trump added. “So, we’ll see what happens.”
Trump is set to attend the dignified transfer of the three service members at Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.