On March 1, 2026, an Iranian one-way attack drone struck a makeshift tactical operations center at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, killing six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers, the first American deaths of the war Trump launched in February, and wounding more than thirty others. It remains the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in the conflict.
More than four months later, survivors went public with an account of preventable failure. In reporting published July 12, 2026, by The Washington Post and CBS News, soldiers said military leaders had seen intelligence indicating Iran was targeting their position, and that multiple force-protection warnings preceded the unit's February move to Shuaiba. They blame the commanders of the Iowa-based 103rd Sustainment Command for ordering them into the position weeks before Operation Epic Fury despite the known risk. A complaint one soldier sent to the Army Inspector General said leadership “disregarded” the intelligence briefings and “yelled” at those who questioned the deployment.
Survivors told CBS the unit “was unprepared” to defend itself and disputed the Pentagon's account of the attack. An Army review is to be shared with the victims' families. Those who were there say they fear no one will be held accountable.
The deaths sit at the center of a war Trump began without congressional authorization and repeatedly recast, and they are part of a broader pattern in which the administration has been accused of obscuring the human cost of the fighting (see The Pentagon Is Hiding Iran War Casualties: Official Count Says 303 Wounded, but the Actual Total May Exceed 750 and Trump Declares His Iran Ceasefire 'Over,' Calling Tehran's Leaders 'Scum' as the War Reignites).
Update (October 5, 2026): The Associated Press, drawing on 13 soldiers, named the officers behind the move. Maj. Gen. John Hinson asked whether Port Shuaiba was on a list of planned Iranian targets and was told it was not but was considered “a likely secondary target,” two officers said; he made the call to go, and Lt. Gen. Patrick Frank, then leading Army Central, signed off. The Army completed its investigation in June and has not released it. An Army inspector general letter dated July 20 found that Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes had not engaged in misconduct, based on “the limited evidence” the complaining officer provided.
Wounded soldiers told AP the military's medical system failed them. One with a damaged artery that put him at risk of a stroke was not admitted to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center but sent to Army barracks and told to schedule outpatient appointments; another, Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom, said he waited over four months for MRI results. AP attributed the lack of major U.S.-run medical facilities in the region to years of drawdowns by multiple administrations. AP counts the war's toll at 19 U.S. personnel killed, more than 800 wounded and at least $44 billion spent. The Army and the Pentagon declined to comment.