SerpApi.Org
President Donald Trump’s allies are sounding the alarm after three U.S. service members were killed over the weekend in the deadliest escalation since the Iran ceasefire collapsed.
The fresh bloodshed has rattled some of Trump’s supporters, who fear the conflict is rapidly spiraling into a wider war with no clear end in sight.
“This is what a quagmire looks like,” one person close to the White House told Politico.
It comes after two soldiers were killed when Iran launched airstrikes on a U.S. military base in Jordan over the weekend. A third was killed in northern Iraq while handling the wreckage of a downed Iranian attack drone.
The two killed in Jordan were Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, who was just 19 years old, and First Lt. Tyler James Feehan of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, who was 25.
The strike in Jordan also left a U.S. soldier unaccounted for. The Pentagon said “unidentified remains” were found on Sunday and are being examined to determine their identity.
Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, died at Erbil Air Base in Iraq “during a controlled detonation” of a downed drone, the Pentagon said.
The latest deaths bring the confirmed U.S. military toll to 17 since American and Israeli forces launched their campaign against Iran on Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, several anonymous U.S. officials told the New York Times that Iran also carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in Jordan over the weekend in attacks that the Pentagon did not disclose.
Those strikes left dozens of U.S. service members injured and caused damage to multiple helicopters, officials said.
Amid the casualties, James Jeffrey, who served as an ambassador in the first Trump administration, told Politico that “people, generally, are concerned.”
“I mean, Americans are dying. It’s very serious. This is a real war,” he said.
Trump reacted to the deaths on Saturday during an interview with NewsNation.
“It’s a very sad thing. We hate to see it happen,” the president said, before quickly pivoting to his favorite Iran talking point. “It’s in service to our country… we’re never, they’re never going to allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Meanwhile, in a Truth Social post on Monday, he vowed that Iran would pay “many times over” for each service member’s death.
But any escalation in the already deeply unpopular and expensive conflict could lead to more misery for Americans.
Trump pollster John McLaughlin warned there may be no easy way out, saying Iran’s leaders thrive on conflict and could force the U.S. into a showdown it does not want.
“I don’t think anybody likes the in-between position of having an Iran where these terrorists are still in charge and could affect our domestic politics going into November. For them, winning the war is surviving,” McLaughlin told Politico. “Their whole existence is based on an ongoing war with us that we’d rather not have. But they’re leaving us with an option that we don’t want to have to do.”
The conflict has already sent shockwaves through energy markets, with gas prices surging after the Strait of Hormuz was blockaded.
Prices climbed again after U.S. Central Command reinstated a naval blockade of Iranian ports following the collapse of the ceasefire.
AAA data shows gasoline prices are once again creeping toward $5 a gallon, raising fears that prolonged instability could drive costs even higher.
Meanwhile, Brent crude briefly jumped above $90 a barrel on Sunday—its highest level in a month—before falling back after Iran said talks with the U.S. were continuing through mediators despite the strikes.
Economists warn that a sustained spike in fuel prices could push up grocery costs and add more pressure on American households in the months ahead.
But the White House has insisted that the price rises are temporary.
“As the U.S. military degrades the terrorist Iranian regime’s ability to attack commercial vessels and disrupt the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz, oil and gas prices will plummet back to pre-conflict levels,” said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers.
Still, the economic fallout could become a major political headache for Republicans as they head toward the midterm elections.
“My heuristic always is if the incumbent party has oil above $90 a barrel, they’re going to lose. And if they have it below $70 a barrel, they’re going to win. I think this is already the danger zone,” Curt Mills, executive director of the American Conservative magazine, told Politico.
“The war has become a persistent dark cloud that is souring the national mood which typically depresses the base of the party in power and motivates supporters of the opposition,” former GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo added.
