An Iranian missile attack on Friday wounded at least 10 US service members and damaged several planes at a military base in Saudi Arabia, according to two US officials familiar with the situation. Two of the troops were seriously wounded, one of the officials said. The attack on Prince Sultan Air Base damaged several US refueling aircraft, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, per the AP. The attack, which involved an Iranian missile as well as drones, comes a day after President Trump said Iran has been "obliterated," and after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that "never in recorded history has a nation's military been so quickly and so effectively neutralized."
This isn't the first time that Prince Sultan Air Base has been targeted by Iran. Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, was wounded during a March 1 attack on the base and died days later. He's one of the 13 service members who've been killed in the war so far. Satellite imagery that appeared to show the damage to the aircraft in the latest attack, reported initially by the Wall Street Journal, was posted online. US Central Command said earlier on Friday that more than 300 service members have been wounded in the monthlong conflict. While most of the wounded have recovered and returned to duty, 30 remain out of action, and 10 are considered seriously wounded.
The Trump administration offered a 15-point plan for a possible ceasefire to Iran, with Pakistan as an intermediary. Iran has denied that negotiations are taking place, while its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has sent fuel prices skyrocketing and roiled the world economy. On Friday, however, Tehran said it agreed to facilitate humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the crucial waterway. Despite the discussion of talks, the Pentagon is preparing to send at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division—a unit trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields—to the Middle East in the coming days.
The military is also in the process of deploying two Marine units that will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region. Despite thousands of additional troops heading there, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the United States "can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops." In terms of the additional deployments, "we are always going to be prepared to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust to contingencies should they emerge," Rubio told reporters after the G7 foreign ministers meeting in France.
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