US soldier killed in Iraq during ‘controlled detonation’ of downed Iranian drone

WASHINGTON — The US military says a service member was killed after an Iranian attack in northern Iraq on Saturday, a day after an attack on a base in Jordan killed two US soldiers and left another missing.US Central Command said the soldier was killed during “a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance” from a downed Iranian attack drone, which also wounded a second service member.In a statement on Sunday, US Central Command said the soldier died on July 18 and that a second service member suffered mild injuries during the detonation.The death on Saturday brought the number of US service members killed since February 28 when the US and Israel launched their war on Iran to 17. Two other US service members were killed in Iranian strikes in Jordan on Friday, while a third went missing. CENTCOM said on Sunday that unidentified remains have been found at the location and an examination process was under way to identify them.US President Donald Trump on Sunday said “we feel very badly” about the American service members who have died in the war with Iran, as the number of troop fatalities hits 17.“We feel very badly, but you know those great people, those great patriots … out there fighting that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington following attendance at the World Cup final.“Iran has been very, very badly damaged. They’ve lost everything almost militarily. They’ve got very little left,” the president said, adding, that the US “hit them very hard again tonight.”In recent days, the US and Iran have intensified attacks after an interim ceasefire agreement signed a month ago unravelled amid struggle for control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel.On Sunday, Iranian media said the US carried out an attack near the city of Sirik in southern Iran, and near Shadegan, close to the border with Iraq. An explosion was later reported in Abadan, in Iran’s southwest.Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization also condemned a US attack on the site of a nuclear power plant under construction in Darkhovin, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was investigating reports of an overnight attack, noting that the plant was in the very early stages of construction.In response to the latest strikes, Iran carried out drone attacks on US military assets and equipment at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and the Ali Al Salem airbase, according to Iranian state television.Kuwait’s government said a desalination plant had been attacked for the second day running, causing a fire, in what it called a direct strike on vital civilian infrastructure.