Three US service members killed and five injured in joint Iran operation
The US military has said three service members have been killed in action in the Middle East - after Iranian state media claimed to have struck a US warship.
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Five have also been seriously wounded, according to US Central Command.
"Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions - and are in the process of being returned to duty," the US said in a statement released on Sunday.
"Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing," the statement added.
"The situation is fluid, so out of respect for the families, we will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified."
It comes after President Trump warned that the joint operation against Iran could see the US suffer casualties.
Details of the three fallen soldiers will not be released until 24 hours after their families have been notified, Centcom added.
It comes as Iran claimed to have struck the USS Abraham Lincoln - a prized US warship, with 4 ballistic missiles.
The US has since refuted the claim.
Separately, the US claimed it had hit an "Iranian Jamaran-class corvette" which had sunk as a result of the damage.
"The ship is currently sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Oman at a Chah Bahar pier," it said.
"As the president said, members of Iran's armed forces, IRGC and police 'must lay down your weapons'. Abandon ship."
It comes as Donald Trump warned Iran against further retaliation for the joint US-Israeli strikes on the country which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He told Iran that the country the US would counter “with a force that has never been seen before”.
It comes after Trump urged the Iranian people to seize “the single greatest chance… to take back their country” in the wake of the attack, as countless Iranians around the world took to the streets to celebrate - as others were seen to mourn the Supreme Leader's death.
Following the attack, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it would launch its “most-intense offensive operation” ever in response to the deadly Saturday morning strikes.
On Saturday, a host of key figures in the Iran leadership regime were killed as part of the operation.
Those reportedly killed include:
- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, who was killed on Saturday morning at his office
- The Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), General Mohammad Pakpour
- Security adviser and head of the National Defence Council, Ali Shamkhani
- Defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh
- Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad