SerpApi.Org
President Trump on Wednesday attended the dignified transfer of four U.S. servicemembers recently killed in the Middle East during the Iran war.
Standing on the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the president delivered a salute as each of the four transfer cases, draped in the American flag, were carried off a C-17 airplane and into vehicles. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt were among those who joined the president in paying their respects. A family member of one of the deceased soldiers could be heard crying as the fourth case was delivered into a vehicle.
The solemn dignified transfer, in which the servicemembers’ remains are returned to the U.S., occurs for those who die in the theater of operations. Trump has said attending a dignified transfer is one of the most difficult presidential duties, and this will be his third since the start of the war with Iran.
Before arriving at Dover Air Force Base, Trump said he wanted to “honor our heroes.”
“All of them said very strongly, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, they won’t have a nuclear weapon,” the president said. “So we’re going to honor them, and it’s one of the hardest things to do—honestly one of the hardest things to do as a president but it has to be done.”
Three servicemembers were killed in a strike at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan that hit containerized housing units where troops lived and slept. The Pentagon identified the soldiers killed as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. A third servicemember was originally listed as missing, but the Pentagon later identified the individual, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, N.Y., as deceased.
A fourth soldier was killed at Erbil Air Base in Iraq during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone. He was identified as Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C.
Trump privately met with the families of the four soldiers before the event began, according to the White House.
The president said he would tell the families of the deceased soldiers, “We love you, we love your child.”
“All you can do is throw out your heart,” Trump said.
Trump attended a dignified transfer in March 2026 for six U.S. servicemembers killed in the Middle East, and another later that month for fallen aircrew members. Since the beginning of the war, 18 U.S. servicemembers have been killed.
The president told reporters he didn’t have any update on the Pentagon’s investigations into the most recent deaths, although on Tuesday he suggested that Iran was able to “slip something through in Jordan.” Trump said Iran is now being “decimated” in response. The U.S. launched multiple waves of retaliatory strikes against Iran, which were intended to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping.
“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over! This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine, and every Leader in the Military,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
There are few signs the conflict is nearing an end, as the U.S. and Iran continue strikes and traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remains crippled. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump vowed to hit power plants and bridges if Iran shoots at any ship in the strait. Trump also said this week that he could order an attack on Pickaxe Mountain, where Iran is believed to have moved nuclear centrifuges, “pretty soon and very heavily.”
Write to Meridith McGraw at [email protected]