17 US service members have died in the Iran war, reflecting a conflict fought largely in the air

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — The U.S. military said Sunday that another American service member was killed as part of the war with Iran, bringing the total number of deaths to 17.

The deaths reflect the complicated reality that American boots don’t need to be on the ground for there to be lethal risks in a conflict that involves drones, missiles and airplanes. American forces are arrayed across the Middle East, making other nations targets of Iran as the fighting has escalated after a breakdown in peace talks.

President Donald Trump has said the war is necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

First fatalities came soon after the war started

Shortly after the war began on Feb. 28, an Iranian drone strike at a civilian port in Kuwait killed six American soldiers. The soldiers were part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa who were working at a shipping container-style building that had no defenses.

A seventh soldier died more than a week after being wounded during a March 1 attack by Iran on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

Later in March, six service members were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting U.S. military operations against Iran crashed in Iraq. The aircraft was in “friendly” airspace when an unspecified incident involving another aircraft took place, according to U.S. Central Command.

On Monday, the U.S. military said a Navy pilot died in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea. The Navy initially described the July 1 crash as an emergency landing and said there was “no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action.” The remaining three sailors aboard the helicopter were rescued.

Drones and missiles still claiming lives

On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command said two service members were killed in Jordan on Friday while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. A third service member was missing after that attack, and the military said Sunday that “unidentified remains” were found and were being examined.

The latest U.S. military death from the conflict was on Saturday in northern Iraq when an American service member in northern Iraq was killed during a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. A second service member was wounded and was receiving medical treatment for a minor injury.

The military said it was withholding additional information, including the names of the deceased, until 24 hours after families had been notified.

The deaths in the war are not limited to Americans.

Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.

People working on ships, as well as foreign workers and others in Gulf nations, Israel and Lebanon have also perished in the conflict.