Key facts
- President Donald Trump will attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks.
- The ceremony will be held at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
- Three service members died in Jordan from an Iranian missile strike on their barracks.
- A fourth service member died in Iraq during the detonation of an attack drone.
- U.S. presidents regularly attend these solemn ceremonies during times of conflict.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base for four U.S. service members killed in recent Iranian attacks in the Middle East. The solemn event, known as a "dignified transfer," will mark the return of the fallen soldiers to American soil.
Three of the service members—First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad, 28, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19—were assigned to U.S. Army air defense brigades and were killed when an Iranian missile struck their sleeping barracks at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The fourth service member, Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, died in a separate incident in Erbil, Iraq, during the controlled detonation of an attack drone.
The war against Iran, which began in February, has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $37.5 billion and resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. service members, with over 450 injured. The conflict has also led to thousands of Iranian deaths and caused global oil prices to rise. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have questioned the war's objectives, which have varied since its inception. Trump has stated that the U.S. is striking Iran in honor of the fallen troops and that Iran will "pay for that killing many times over."
Presidential attendance at dignified transfer ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base, home to the largest U.S. military mortuary, is customary during times of war or conflict that result in U.S. troop fatalities.