By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) – Three U.S. service members have been killed and another five have been seriously wounded, in the first casualties of the unfolding U.S. operations against Iran, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

The casualties were announced on the second day of strikes by the U.S. and Israel against Iran, which have plunged the Middle East into a new, unpredictable conflict that has already led to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement on Sunday that U.S. troops suffered additional, less serious injuries as well.

“Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions – and are in the process of being returned to duty. Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing,” Central Command said in a statement on X.

It declined to offer specifics of how the U.S. forces were killed and wounded, but Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have launched blistering rounds of drones and missiles at targets throughout the Middle East.

On Sunday morning, Iran said it had launched an attack on the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with four ballistic missiles, state media reported. Central Command said the ship was not hit and that Iran’s missiles didn’t come close.

The U.S. deaths are the first combat-related fatalities suffered by the U.S. military in major operations ordered by President Donald Trump since he returned to office last year. The U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites last June and the U.S. military’s seizure of Venezuela’s president in January led to no U.S. fatalities.

Trump had warned on Saturday that there could be U.S. casualties. “My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region,” he said.

“Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,” Trump added.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Simao)

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