Deadly Iran Missile Hit US Troops' On-Base Housing

US officials tell the Wall Street Journal that the fatal Iranian strike on Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base last week slammed into prefabricated living quarters—"containerized housing units" where US troops live and sleep—killing two Army air and missile defense soldiers and leaving a third servicemember missing. The housing hit was the last of three missile strikes on the base over 24 hours; earlier blasts damaged a gym and an empty hangar after warning sirens sent troops scrambling to bunkers. It isn't clear whether the soldiers were inside the CHUs at the time or trying to find shelter in the bunkers when they were killed.

The episode underscores how Iranian missiles, designed to travel at high speed and maneuver in flight, can still penetrate US defenses protecting roughly 50,000 American personnel in the region. President Trump vowed Iran would "pay … many times over" for any American deaths and followed up with new strikes aimed at Iran's ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Pentagon officials say nearly 100 troops have reported some level of injury since early July, mostly mild concussions, and 17 US servicemembers have been killed since the conflict began, with one still unaccounted for. See the full story at the Journal.