New casualty details suggest the March 1 drone strike was far deadlier than early public accounts showed.
WASHINGTON, DC — Dozens of U.S. service members suffered serious injuries in an Iranian drone attack on a military facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on March 1, according to people familiar with the casualty reports, adding new detail to one of the deadliest single strikes against American forces in the war.
The fuller picture matters because it sharply expands the known human cost of the first 10 days of fighting and raises fresh questions about how the Pentagon described the toll. The attack killed six Army Reserve soldiers from the 103rd Sustainment Command, and officials later said about 140 U.S. service members had been wounded across the war zone, with eight classified as severely injured. The newly described injuries in Kuwait included burns, blast-related brain trauma and shrapnel wounds, showing that the strike at the Kuwaiti port base caused far broader damage than early official statements suggested.
In the first public days after the attack, the focus was on the six Americans killed when a drone hit the facility in Kuwait during the opening phase of the war. The U.S. military later identified four of the dead as Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of Minnesota; and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of Iowa. Two more soldiers were later identified as Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Iowa, and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of California. The troops all served in the 103rd Sustainment Command, a reserve logistics unit based in Des Moines, Iowa. What was not publicly detailed at the time was how many others were hurt in the same strike, or how serious many of those injuries were.
People familiar with the casualty reports said the wounded included service members with burns, shrapnel injuries and traumatic brain injuries consistent with a blast inside or near a command and support area. At least one injured service member may face the amputation of a limb. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Tuesday that approximately 140 U.S. service members had been wounded since the start of the operation and that 108 had returned to duty. He said eight of the wounded were receiving the highest level of medical care. He did not publicly break down how many of the severely hurt were from the Kuwait strike, and defense officials did not immediately provide a more detailed public accounting of where each category of injury occurred. That left several key questions unanswered, including how quickly the Pentagon understood the scale of the casualties and why the broader totals emerged only days later.
The attack at Port Shuaiba happened as Iran launched waves of missiles and drones across the region in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes. U.S. Central Command said earlier in the conflict that Iran had launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones across the Middle East. Kuwait, though not a formal combat front, became one of the most visible sites of the war’s spillover because it hosts American military facilities and logistics operations. The Port Shuaiba strike underscored how support hubs can become front-line targets in a fast-moving regional conflict. It also added to the strain on Kuwait, which has reported deaths among its own officials and has had to respond repeatedly to aerial threats over its territory. On March 2, amid active air defense operations, Kuwaiti defenses also mistakenly shot down three U.S. F-15 fighter jets in an apparent friendly-fire incident, though all six crew members ejected safely and were recovered in stable condition.
The Pentagon’s later statement that about 140 troops had been wounded across the war marked a major shift from earlier descriptions that centered on fewer than a dozen grievous cases. That broader figure became public after outside reporting pressed the issue, adding to criticism that the military had been too slow to explain the extent of the casualties. A congressional aide, speaking privately about the matter, said service members and their families were owed a more transparent account. The lag is notable because blast injuries, especially traumatic brain injuries, are often not fully diagnosed right away. Symptoms can emerge over hours or days, and some troops initially continue working before they are screened more closely. That pattern has appeared in earlier U.S. conflicts, where the first official injury counts later rose as doctors completed evaluations and commanders updated reports. Even so, the delay in public disclosure in this case has become part of the story itself.
The human toll is also shaping the next phase of the public and military response. Families of the dead have already received formal notifications, and the remains of the six soldiers were transferred through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Commanders have publicly praised the reserve unit’s role in the Army’s global logistics network and described the loss as a blow to a mission that supports forces far beyond a single battlefield. Defense officials have not said when a fuller casualty breakdown for Kuwait will be released, whether the strike exposed gaps in base protection, or if an after-action report will be made public. For now, officials say the most seriously wounded are receiving advanced care, while many others have returned to duty. President Donald Trump and senior Pentagon leaders have continued to argue that Iranian military capabilities have been heavily degraded, even as they acknowledge the war has brought sustained danger to U.S. troops across the region.
What remains uncertain is how much more the casualty picture could still change. The war began Feb. 28, and military medical reporting often evolves as field diagnoses are reviewed by specialists. One U.S. troop injured in a separate attack in Saudi Arabia later died, bringing the known American death toll in the conflict to seven by Tuesday. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iranian ballistic missile attacks had fallen 90% since the war began and one-way drone attacks had fallen 83%, though he cautioned that Tehran was adapting to U.S. operations. Those numbers suggested some reduction in immediate pressure, but they did not lessen the significance of the Kuwait strike or the questions now surrounding it. The next major milestone is likely a fuller Pentagon briefing or updated casualty report that explains how many of the wounded came from Port Shuaiba and whether more severe cases are still being assessed.
Author note: Last updated March 11, 2026.