Iranian drone attack kills two US soldiers

**Will Chalk** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Will Chalk, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 19th of July, these are our main stories. Iranian attacks on Jordan have killed two American servicemen, another US service member is still unaccounted for. Two warehouses belonging to Russia's biggest online retailer have been hit in some of the latest Ukrainian drone attacks, and a prominent Cuban dissident has gone into exile in the United States after being allowed to leave Cuba, where he'd served a long prison sentence.
Also in this podcast, Netflix's latest gambit to try and win the battle for our attention.

**Sean Crankell** (0:41)
It's sort of a strange mix between a playable movie and a little bit of a game, this thriller that kind of magically uses your phone and your TV to interface with it.

**Will Chalk** (0:53)
And history is made in the Football World Cup bronze medal match with a 10-goal thriller.
It's something that will be a painful reminder to people in the US of the human cost of the Iran war their country is raging thousands of miles away in the Middle East. The deaths of two US service members and the announcement that a third is missing. US Central Command, which is responsible for American military activity in the Middle East, announced on social media that the casualties happened in Jordan during defensive action against ballistic missile and drone attacks by Iran. As we record this podcast, the American bombardment of Iran has been continuing for an eighth straight night after the US president declared that the temporary ceasefire was over. We've also heard, in a way, from Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Hamenei. He's not been seen since the war broke out, but a few hours ago, a statement attributed to him was read out by a news reader on Iranian state TV.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:57)
Now that the American enemy is seeking to escalate conflict and bear even greater costs and greater disgrace, it should know that the dear Iranian nation and the resistance front have unforgettable lessons for it.

**Will Chalk** (2:11)
Nick Johnson is our reporter in Washington.

**Nick Johnson** (2:14)
The US Central Command, which is responsible for American military operations in the Middle East, has confirmed that two of its service members have been killed.
One is missing and this follows an Iranian missile and drone attack towards US troops in Jordan. Now, US Central Command hasn't gone into any specifics regarding the identity of those who have been killed and that one who is missing, nor the specifics of the incident itself. But the US does have a permanent presence at a number of bases in Jordan. And actually, last night, the Jordanian military said it had intercepted around 10 missiles fired from Iran into its airspace, but it reported no damage. But then a little earlier, we heard from Iranian state media who said that Iranian forces destroyed at least two US aircraft in Jordan. But that's something we haven't had yet confirmed from the Pentagon.

**Will Chalk** (3:11)
That takes the US death toll in the conflict to 16
And we should say thousands more have been killed across the Middle East since the conflict began. But I guess it is the US death toll, isn't it, that will bring this home to a lot of people in the United States?

**Nick Johnson** (3:27)
Yeah, absolutely. We've heard from the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who on social media has said, Godspeed, heroes, this only strengthens our resolve. But yeah, you point to the wider number of casualties. And it is worth saying that Iranian state media has said, and it attributes this to the Iranian Red Crescent, that at least 50 people have been killed in Iran and at least 500 have been injured since these hostilities renewed over the past few weeks.

**Will Chalk** (3:57)
We've had seven days of attacks now. Is there any word from the White House that this tactic is going to change or modify going forward?

**Nick Johnson** (4:07)
It's difficult to say what the plan is. And as we know, Donald Trump doesn't often know what the plan is in the long term. He often works day by day.
And, yeah, we've heard from Pete Hegseth, but we've also heard from Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has released a written statement. And he said that America's repeated breaches of the agreement had laid bare a fundamental truth that the signature of the US president is utterly worthless and devoid of credibility. Of course, he's referring there to the signature of the president on the memorandum of understanding, which was signed last month, which was meant to be a temporary ceasefire agreement between the two countries lasting 60 days. We're not even a month into it now.