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Iran struck a base housing American troops in Kuwait, killing three U.S. service members, military officials said on Sunday, as the stakes for the United States became immediately clear in its latest war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The fatalities were the first for the United States since the U.S. and Israeli militaries jointly began attacks in Iran on Saturday. The U.S. military\u2019s Central Command said that five service members were \u201cseriously wounded\u201d and several others \u201csustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions\u201d in the attack.<\/p>\n
The Iranian strikes in Kuwait, at Camp Arifjan, destroyed major portions of an army unit that manages housing for troops in the country, military officials said.<\/p>\n
Iranian retaliatory strikes also killed at least nine people in Israel, and four people in other countries in the region. In Iran, the U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 133 civilians and wounded 200 others, according to HRANA, the media agency of an Iranian rights group based in Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
For the United States, the grim American toll in the first two days of the war signaled that Iran was more prepared for war than the Trump administration anticipated, U.S. military officials said. Iran has put up a fight, even after its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other top officials were killed in Israeli attacks with intelligence help from the C.I.A.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In the weeks before the war, the United States had assembled its largest military buildup since the Iraq War began in 2003. Since early Saturday, U.S. attack planes launched from bases around the Middle East and from at least one aircraft carrier have carried out hundreds of strikes in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n The supreme leader \u201cwas unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do,\u201d Mr. Trump boasted on social media on Saturday.<\/p>\n The Israeli military said on Sunday its airstrikes had destroyed about 200 ballistic missile launchers and rendered dozens more inoperable over the past two days, taking out roughly half of Iran\u2019s launcher arsenal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The strikes have also targeted Iran\u2019s central explosives manufacturing facility, which supplies materials for missile warheads and other weapons programs, including rockets, U.A.V.s, and cruise missiles.<\/p>\n On Sunday, the United States continued a wave of strikes, particularly targeting Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program and the Iranian Navy, a Central Command official said.<\/p>\n Air Force B-2 stealth bombers, armed with 2,000-pound bombs, struck Iran\u2019s \u201chardened\u201d ballistic missile facilities, Central Command said in a statement on Sunday. \u201cNo nation should ever doubt America\u2019s resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n Central Command said that so far U.S. strikes have hit the Joint Headquarters of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its Aerospace Forces Headquarters, Iranian air defense systems, ballistic missile sites, submarines and anti-ship missile sites.<\/p>\n In another statement, Central Command said that U.S. forces struck an Iranian warship during the start of the joint American and Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday. \u201cThe ship is currently sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Oman,\u201d Central Command said on social media. \u201cAs the President said, members of Iran\u2019s armed forces, IRGC and police \u2018must lay down your weapons.\u2019 Abandon ship.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But Iran\u2019s armed forces showed no immediate signs of giving up. Since the U.S. and Israeli military strikes began, Iran has launched hundreds of retaliatory missiles at a wide range of American and Israeli targets in the region. It has also launched strikes at Arab countries it considers allies of the United States, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In the past, Iran has given warning before launching retaliatory strikes and made known which bases housing U.S. troops it intended to hit. This time, the strikes have been widespread. More than 549 drones, 165 ballistic missiles and two Iranian cruise missiles targeted the United Arab Emirates, the Emirati defense ministry said on Sunday. Most were intercepted but 21 drones struck civilian targets, the ministry said.<\/p>\n U.S. military officials warned on Sunday that the military has been burning through Tomahawk missiles and other munitions.<\/p>\n Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., a former leader of Central Command, said it would probably become clear in the next 48 to 72 hours whether Iran could maintain its heavy barrage of retaliatory missile strikes as the U.S. and Israeli militaries targeted Iran\u2019s arsenal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a race,\u201d General McKenzie said in an interview.<\/p>\n Not all U.S. missile strikes may have hit their intended military targets.<\/p>\n