US Says Iranian Revolutionary Guard Headquarters Destroyed as First American Fatalities Confirmed

The United States has announced the destruction of the headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), while confirming the first American military deaths since the start of its campaign against Tehran.

In a statement on Sunday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had struck and destroyed the IRGC’s main command facility. The announcement was accompanied by video footage showing missiles launched from a US Navy vessel hitting a large compound in an urban area. “America has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters,” CENTCOM said.

As air strikes continued over Tehran, President Donald Trump said the conflict could last several weeks. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he described the operation as “a four-week process.”

The Pentagon confirmed that three US service members were killed in action and five others seriously wounded. Several additional personnel sustained minor injuries, including shrapnel wounds and concussions. “Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing,” the department said. Trump later told NBC News that casualties were expected in a war of this scale, adding that the outcome would ultimately “be a great deal for the world.”

The US-Israeli offensive began on Saturday with strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Iran has since launched missile and drone attacks across the Middle East, with explosions reported in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Israel.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards described their response as a “large-scale” operation targeting military and strategic sites in the Gulf. An attack on the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh killed at least nine people, according to local authorities. Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Tehran would respond with unprecedented force. President Masoud Pezeshkian called Khamenei’s killing a declaration of war against Muslims and vowed retaliation.

Israel said the operation marked the beginning of a broader campaign. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said military action against Iran would intensify in the coming days, and the Israeli military announced the mobilization of about 100,000 reservists.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes have affected Gulf states. Oman’s commercial port of Duqm was hit by drones on Sunday, injuring a foreign worker, according to the Oman News Agency. Three vessels were also attacked in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran declared the strategic waterway closed.

Iranian forces claimed they struck the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, a claim the Pentagon rejected, saying the missiles did not come close to the vessel. Trump said US strikes had sunk nine Iranian naval ships and partially destroyed Iran’s naval headquarters.

Iran’s Red Crescent reported that air strikes inside the country have killed at least 201 people and injured hundreds more. Iran’s judiciary confirmed the deaths of senior officials, including Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Khamenei, and Mohammad Pakpour, head of the Revolutionary Guards.

Following Khamenei’s death, Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi to an interim leadership council alongside Pezeshkian while a permanent successor is chosen. Reactions within Iran have been mixed, with some residents expressing relief and others voicing concern about the country’s future as the conflict deepens.