Updated March 3, 2026 / 12:26 AM EST
The first American service members reported killed in the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran died in what U.S. officials say was an apparent Iranian drone strike on a makeshift operations center at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait, three U.S. military officials with direct knowledge told CBS News.
At least six U.S. service members were killed when the tactical operations center took a direct hit, U.S. Central Command has confirmed. The facility was one of several U.S.-allied locations in the Persian Gulf region that have come under intense Iranian missile and drone attacks since U.S. and Israeli forces began strikes on Iran early Saturday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the weapon that struck the site was powerful enough to penetrate both air defenses and the operations center’s protective measures. “You have air defenses, and a lot’s coming in, and you hit most of it,” he said at a Pentagon news conference, adding that occasionally a weapon breaches defenses and can hit hardened positions.
But three U.S. military officials told CBS News they questioned whether the facility had been meaningfully fortified. They described the operations center as a triple-wide trailer converted into office space — a common arrangement at overseas bases — with its only physical protection being 12-foot-tall T-walls, the steel-reinforced concrete barriers used to shield personnel from blasts and shrapnel. Those barriers offer little defense against an overhead strike, the officials said; two of them said the munition appeared to impact dead-center atop the structure.
Officials also said there had been on-the-ground debate before the attack about whether concentrating so many troops in the trailers was prudent, given the site’s vulnerability. Three officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Preliminary battle damage assessments indicate the strike was carried out by a one-way “kamikaze” drone, three U.S. military officials familiar with Iran’s attack said. Iran commonly employs Shahed-136-style drones in such operations. The strike ignited fires that consumed the buildings and complicated immediate recovery efforts for the victims.
Two officials said they did not recall hearing the base warning sirens that typically accompany counter-battery or counter-ordnance systems; they added the warning system had functioned earlier in the week, but that in prior incidents some drones were already within perimeter defenses before alarms sounded.
Those officials also said there was no U.S. counter-rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) system at the Shuaiba port capable of intercepting incoming drones or munitions. Kuwaiti interceptors were reportedly in the vicinity, but it was unclear whether they were employed. Multiple requests for additional drone-defeat capabilities were made, the officials said, but the reinforcements did not arrive. “We basically had no drone defeat capability,” one source told CBS News. “I’m sorry for their families’ losses. They were nice people doing what their nation asked of them,” another added.
CNN first reported the deaths of the six service members and that they seemingly had no prior warning. CBS News is first to report the type of ordnance that impacted the operations center and that some American troops questioned the adequacy of the site’s defenses and whether it should have been used at all.
A Pentagon spokesperson directed questions to U.S. Central Command’s prior statements regarding the deceased service members. In addition to the six killed at Shuaiba, U.S. Central Command said at least 18 service members had been seriously wounded as of Monday morning in the combat operation, which officials have called Operation Epic Fury.
Hegseth paid tribute to the fallen, calling them among the nation’s finest and urging that the remainder of the operation be conducted in a manner that honors their sacrifice.