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

Residents inspect a piece of an Iranian ballistic missile that landed in an empty field in Najaf, southern Iraq, following Iran’s large-scale retaliatory missile strikes against Israel in response to earlier Israeli attacks, on June 14, 2025. [Karar Essa – Anadolu Agency]

A US service member was killed in northern Iraq while taking part in a controlled operation to destroy unexploded ordnance from an Iranian drone that had crashed earlier, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday.

In a statement, CENTCOM said: “a U.S. service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury.”

The latest death brings the confirmed number of US military personnel killed since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on 28 February to 17.

On Saturday, CENTCOM said two US service members had been killed and a third was missing following an Iranian strike on a military site in Jordan on Friday.

In Sunday’s statement, the command said that after a thorough search, US military personnel found unidentified human remains at the site earlier in the day. It said efforts are under way to identify the remains.

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