Several US soldiers are ‘seriously’ wounded and multiple planes are damaged after an Iranian missile strike at a base in Saudi Arabia.
The Associated Press reported that ‘several’ American service members are injured following the attack on Prince Sultan Air Base today, though the Wall Street Journal put the number at 10.
Two of them are ‘very seriously injured,’ and eight others are ‘seriously injured’ – a separate category under the military’s classification system, according to CBS News.
Multiple US and Arab officials said the injured soldiers were inside an installation building on the base, which was hit by at least one missile and several unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that several US refueling aircraft were damaged in the strike.
Satellite photos appeared to reveal the full extent of damage to the aircraft, with images rapidly circulating online.
The update comes just after the US Central Command confirmed that over 300 service members have already been wounded in the ongoing conflict, with at least 13 others killed.
Today’s attack marks at least the second strike on Prince Sultan Air Base during the ongoing war with Iran, following an earlier strike this month that damaged five refueling aircraft.
‘Several’ American servicemembers were injured in a Friday attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, according to AP, though the Wall Street Journal put the number at 10
US and Arab officials said the injured soldiers were inside an installation building on the base (pictured), which was hit by at least one missile and several unmanned aerial vehicles
Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, died just days after being wounded in the March 1 assault on the base.
Today’s strike also comes as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf powers appear to be warming to a more forceful stance against Iran’s war moves, hinting at deeper involvement if Tehran’s attacks continue.
At the same time, the US and its allied forces continue to see their supply of air defense interceptors shrink after four weeks of war.
President Donald Trump, speaking at a Miami event backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, declared today that the war is coming to a close very soon, according to the WSJ.
‘It’s sort of finished, but it’s not finished,’ he said. ‘It’s got to be finished.’
He also said that he expected the war to deliver an even bigger and more destructive blow to the stock markets.
‘I thought we were going to go down more,’ he said. ‘And I thought oil prices were going to go up higher.’
Trump also lashed out at NATO allies for their reluctance to provide military support, saying it has made him ‘rethink’ how much the US spends on the alliance.
He called it a ‘tremendous mistake’ for allied countries to stay out of the conflict, adding that it will make ‘a lot of money’ for the US since ‘we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO.’
‘But now, based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to,’ Trump said.
‘Why would we be there for them if they’re not there for us? They weren’t there for us.’
The president declared that Saudi Arabia and Israel should move to normalize relations after the Iran conflict wraps up.
‘It’s now time,’ Trump said at a Miami-based event sponsored by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, according to AP.
‘We’ve now taken them out, and they are out bigly,’ he added. ‘We got to get into the Abraham Accords.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and Pentagon for comment.
This is a breaking news story…
