BREAKING: 2 US troops killed in Jordan after Iranian missile attack

Okay guys, standby here. We've got some breaking news to get to right now out of the Middle East. Some new news from CENTCOM here. We've got Lucas Thomason who is live in Tel Aviv for us. Lucas, what are you hearing? Ayesha, we've just learned from the U.S. Military Central Command in charge of all U.S. forces in the Middle East that two American service members have been killed and one is still missing after an Iranian missile attack on a base in Jordan. Additionally, we've learned that four American service members were wounded. They were transferred to Jordanian hospitals and have since been discharged. This all coming out last night after at least two intermediate range ballistic missiles fired from Iran hit a base in Jordan not long after U.S. Air Force personnel had arrived, part of President Trump's reinforcements, F-16 squadron as well as an F-35 squadron. Of course, U.S. Air Force personnel are deployed throughout the Middle East. We've been heavily focused on the two U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups that are in the Arabian Sea. The Air Force isn't as public about where it deploys its forces, but Jordan is a major hub along with bases here in Israel, also Qatar, UAE, and of course in Saudi Arabia. But Jordan has been a major hub. So once again, Ayesha, two American service members have been killed, one is still missing, and four were wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile attack on a base in Jordan last evening. It is the first American casualties in months since those six U.S. Army personnel were killed in the early days of the war in the attack on Kuwait. Terrible, terrible news this afternoon, Lucas. And we were anticipating, we'd heard some things about it and just wanted to make sure and confirmed it before we went on air with it, Lucas. So thank you for that report. As far as the four American service members that were injured and have now been medically evacuated, do you know anything more about how bad those injuries are and how they were injured? It appears they were injured when these Iranian ballistic missiles hit their intended target at this base in Jordan. Let me read the statement from U.S. Central Command, Ayesha. It says, on July 17th, two U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in action as U.S. Central Command and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Additionally, one service member is currently missing in action. Four American service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals. They have since been discharged. Other personnel who were evacuated for minor injuries have returned to duty. Out of respect for the families, CENTCOM will be withholding additional information, including the identities of the fallen, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified. So this is the alert from the U.S. Military Central Command about two American service members being killed. One is still missing. Four wounded in action, treated at Jordanian hospitals and discharged. But earlier, we also spoke about other wounded American service members. Ten U.S. Army soldiers, three U.S. Navy sailors have been wounded in recent days before this attack last night on this airbase in Jordan. Ayesha. And we knew that things were amping up because a senior IRGC commander this week was warning that if U.S. strikes continued for a couple of more days, and it had been going on for seven consecutive nights, Lucas, that Iran would move into a phase of, quote, full-scale offensive operations. So they were certainly ready to amp this up, and it seems like they have. We have reached out to the White House, Lucas. I have been trying to get some sort of a comment from them this afternoon, and I was just checking Truth Social, and we haven't seen anything from the president just yet. Of course, the question is now, does this change the strategy for the president, for the administration moving forward? I do remember, Lucas, I'm sure you do too, at the beginning of all of this, when people were asking about boots on the ground, what happens if we lose American soldiers, how that would impact his decision-making. And he seemed to indicate that sometimes people get hurt, and sometimes soldiers die when there is a conflict like this. That's right, Ayesha. We heard some of the early days of the war at the Pentagon briefing, both from the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Kane, that casualties are part of war. We heard it from President Trump as well, that casualties are inevitable. And you mentioned seven straight nights of American airstrikes inside Iran. Really, the first airstrike started back last week on July 7th when President Trump was in Ankara for the NATO summit, and Iran attacked those three commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, one from Saudi Arabia, two others from the United Arab Emirates. Officials say that really irked President Trump, Iran breaking the memorandum of understanding. We heard President Trump say the ceasefire's over. That was the impetus to restart the war, certainly major combat operations in the skies over Iran. And we've been slowly seeing the Pentagon ramp up the target list. Before, it was Kesham Island trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In the last few nights, we've seen bridges being taken out around Bandar Abbas. That's like the Norfolk of Iran. It's their largest naval base. It's a large commercial port and sits right on the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump and the Pentagon want to see the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial traffic. But since these airstrikes have ramped up, Ayesha, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has slowed to a trickle. In fact, it's been over two months since U.S. warships made that dangerous passage to the Strait of Hormuz as well. Lucas, just very quickly here before I let you go, because I'm reading the CENTCOM statement along with you as well. Obviously, details are limited as they are still talking with families, respecting the families. They're trying to withhold as much information about these fallen warriors as much as they can, but just trying to understand what happened here. Do you know if the Jordanians were launching defensive airstrikes in return? Is that what happened here? They just didn't catch a couple of these ballistic missiles? Most likely, the U.S. Air Force was launching strike missions from this base in Jordan. Again, we've been very public. You see the CENTCOM video showing the two aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea. We see the maps. We show them frequently of all the U.S. naval assets. We normally don't talk about U.S. Air Force assets in the Middle East because a lot of these countries, frankly, don't want it out there. They don't want it very public, although we have an idea thanks to PlaneSpotters and just monitoring open source media when some of these jets arrive. But when you look at Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, in Qatar, Al Udeid, where President Trump spoke just a year ago in the Middle East, the Air Force is deploying to countries throughout the Middle East, including here in Israel. In fact, dozens of more refueling planes are headed here, not just to Ben Gurion, but to the international airport here, but also to the desert, to Israeli Air Force bases. More fighter squadrons are heading in. I was told by officials that in Jordan in particular, an F-16 squadron from Germany was deployed there to Jordan. Also, another squadron of F-35 stealth fighter jets. Recently, we saw F-22 Raptors, also fifth generation jets, leave the Middle East. So these were likely not just replacements, but President Trump is ramping up this conflict against Iran. And to do that, you need more firepower to do it. And it's not just the U.S. Navy, Aisha. You have to send U.S. Air Force squadrons. A lot of these are based in from Germany, from Italy, and of course, some from the United States as well. Okay, Lucas, stay right there. We'll likely come back to you.