No US casualties reported following Iran’s retaliatory strikes, officials say

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to reflect that President Donald Trump announced Saturday that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation.

A barrage of Iranian retaliatory strikes on U.S. military installations across the Middle East on Saturday resulted in no casualties to American personnel, U.S. Central command officials said.

With dust still settling from a U.S. and Israeli air, land and sea bombardment on targets across the Islamic Republic — part an operation dubbed Epic Fury — Iran responded by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at U.S. bases that were “successfully defended against,” a CENTCOM release stated.

“There have been no reports of U.S. casualties or combat-related injuries,” the release stated. “Damage to U.S. installations was minimal and has not impacted operations.”

Video circulated earlier on Saturday purportedly showed the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain being hit in an Iranian strike.

At least 201 people have been killed and more than 700 injured across Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society .

The assault by U.S. and partner forces began Saturday at 1:15 a.m., CENTCOM officials stated, with the goal of knocking out “the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, prioritizing locations that posed an imminent threat.”

Among the primary targets of the operation were Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields, according to the statement.

“The president ordered bold action, and our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, guardians and Coast Guardsmen are answering the call,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a release.

The compound of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was also targeted in the operation. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Khamenei was killed in the strike. President Donald Trump later confirmed in a Truth Social post on Saturday that Khamenei was killed in the attack, calling the moment “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”

“He was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do,” wrote Trump, adding that “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue “uninterrupted throughout the week” or longer.

The operation is the culmination of what CENTCOM officials called “the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation.”

In addition to strikes carried out by U.S. fighter aircraft and naval vessels, the operation also saw the first combat use of the U.S. military’s new autonomous kamikaze drone.

The Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS drone, is a one-way attack drone reverse-engineered after the Iranian Shahed-136.

Troops carrying out those strikes make up the newly formed Task Force Scorpion Strike squadron, a first-of-its-kind one-way-attack drone squadron led by U.S. Special Operations Command-Central personnel.

J.D. Simkins is Editor-in-Chief of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.

Beth Sullivan is an editor for Military Times. Previously, she worked as a staff reporter for The Daily Memphian and as an assistant editor at The Austin Chronicle.

编者按：本报道已更新，以反映唐纳德·特朗普总统周六宣布伊朗最高领袖阿亚图拉·阿里·哈梅内伊在行动中丧生。

美国中央司令部官员表示，伊朗周六对美国在中东各地的军事设施发动的一系列报复性空袭，没有造成美军人员伤亡。

美国和以色列对伊朗伊斯兰共和国境内目标进行了空袭、陆袭和海袭，这场名为“史诗般的狂怒”的行动仍在进行中，尘埃尚未落定。美国中央司令部发布的一份声明称，伊朗随即向美国基地发射了数百枚导弹和无人机，但这些攻击“被成功防御”。

新闻稿称：“目前没有美军人员伤亡或与战斗相关的受伤报告。美军设施受损程度极小，未对作战行动造成影响。”

周六早些时候流传的一段视频据称显示，美国海军位于巴林的第五舰队总部遭到伊朗袭击。

据伊朗红新月会称，伊朗全国至少有 201 人死亡，700 多人受伤。

美国中央司令部官员表示，美国及其盟友部队于周六凌晨 1 点 15 分开始发动进攻，目标是摧毁“伊朗政权的安全机构，优先打击构成迫在眉睫威胁的地点”。

声明称，此次行动的主要目标包括伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队指挥控制设施、伊朗防空能力、导弹和无人机发射场以及军用机场。

“总统下令采取大胆行动，我们勇敢的陆军、海军、空军、海军陆战队、国民警卫队和海岸警卫队队员正在响应号召，”中央司令部司令布拉德·库珀海军上将在一份声明中说。

伊朗最高领袖阿亚图拉·阿里·哈梅内伊的住所也是此次行动的目标之一。一位以色列高级官员告诉路透社，哈梅内伊在袭击中丧生。美国总统唐纳德·特朗普随后于周六在Truth Social网站上发帖证实了哈梅内伊的死讯，并称这是“伊朗人民夺回国家的最大机会”。

特朗普写道：“他无法躲避我们的情报和高度精密的追踪系统，而且与以色列密切合作，他和与他一起丧生的其他领导人什么也做不了。”他还补充说，“猛烈而精准的轰炸”将“持续一周”或更长时间。

这次行动是中央司令部官员所称的“一代人以来美国在该地区最大规模的军事火力集结”。

除了美国战斗机和海军舰艇进行的打击外，此次行动还首次在实战中使用了美国军方新型自主神风特攻无人机。

低成本无人作战攻击系统（LUCAS）无人机是一种单向攻击无人机，它是仿照伊朗 Shahed-136 无人机逆向工程研制的。

执行这些打击行动的部队组成了新成立的“蝎子打击”特遣队中队，这是一支史无前例的单向攻击无人机中队，由美国特种作战司令部中央司令部人员领导。

JD Simkins 是《军事时报》和《防务新闻》的总编辑，也是参加过伊拉克战争的海军陆战队老兵。

贝丝·沙利文是《军事时报》的编辑。此前，她曾担任《每日孟菲斯人报》的记者和《奥斯汀纪事报》的助理编辑。