Trump blames 'other operators' after deadly Iran attack on US service members
WASHINGTON, DC: During the press interaction on Tuesday, July 21, President Donald Trump addressed the killing of two US service members in Jordan by an Iranian attack, apparently blaming it on the ally, saying When you let other people do your work, sometimes that doesn't work out.
“On July 17, two U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in action as US Central Command (CENTCOM) and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks,” CENTCOM reported on Saturday, July 18.
Trump blames attack on service members on ‘other operators’
President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Iran “did slip something through” in an attack that left US service members dead in Jordan.
During his press interaction, Trump described the current state of the war with the Islamic regime, touching on the Iranian missile strike in Jordan.
“We are doing very well,” Trump said. “We are degrading them at levels that nobody thought was possible. They are being degraded really so seriously. They did slip something through in Jordan.”
He then proceeded to blame the attack on “other operators” in Jordan, saying, “We’ve stopped almost everything, but when you let other people do your job with the United States, we let other people do the job. And sometimes it doesn’t work out so well.”
Two US service members killed in Jordan
The Pentagon identified two US Army soldiers killed while defending against an Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack in Jordan on Friday, July 17, marking the first American troop deaths caused by direct Iranian fire since the early days of the conflict.
The Defense Department named the fallen service members as Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, and 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. Gonzales died on Friday, while Feehan succumbed to his injuries the following day.
A third service member was reportedly listed as missing in action following the attack.
The Wall Street Journal on Monday night reported that the missile attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan hit a housing unit for US troops.
The remains of the two fallen service members were discovered after military teams continued searching the area where two American service members went missing following the July 17 Iranian attack in Jordan.
Service member killed at Iraqi base
The Pentagon on Tuesday, July 21, identified the US service member who was killed in a "controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone” at a US base in Iraq.
Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C., was killed on Saturday, July 18, at Erbil Air Base, Iraq, a primary hub for US forces in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
