Credit: U.S. Centcom
Troops injured in strike on Kuwait post reportedly received no warning to evacuate, denied requests for additional protections
Read more on ABC News: Senate Democrats say Pentagon wasn’t ready for Iranian retaliation on US troops
April 29, 2026 - Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have launched a new investigation into reports that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth failed to take basic steps to protect troops during Operation Epic Fury, including during a strike that killed six service members and injured twenty in Kuwait.
On March 1, 2026, days into President Trump’s war on Iran, an Iranian drone hit a U.S. military post in Kuwait, killing six American service members and injuring at least 20. The attack reportedly came with “no warning or sirens to alert troops to evacuate or get into a bunker.” After the attack, service members reported triaging their injuries themselves and having to “commandeer civilian vehicles to drive the wounded to two local Kuwaiti hospitals.”
“We are concerned that this is part of a larger pattern in which this administration has failed to protect Americans in the region from Iranian retaliation,” wrote the senators.
Secretary Hegseth described the attack as a “powerful” Iranian drone hit that was able to get through “fortified” U.S. defenses. But survivors of the attack described his account as a “falsehood,” saying that the unit “was unprepared to provide any defense for itself” despite making requests “for more capabilities to defeat incoming drones.”
Accounts from survivors and other officials indicate that the risks to service members in the region were known, but leadership at the Pentagon failed to take steps to prevent harm that could come from Iran’s retaliation. One service member recounted seeing intelligence revealing that “the post [they were relocated to] was on a list of potential Iranian targets.” Three other officials raised concerns that troop positions “concentrated too many U.S. troops in a location that wasn’t defendable.”
Survivors of the Kuwait attack have made clear that basic steps were not taken to keep U.S. troops safe, despite previous requests for more defenses against drones.
In another instance, the Pentagon alsoreportedly failed to warn U.S.-flagged vessels of imminent attacks from Iran, a break from precedent that left the ships unprepared, and left U.S. Merchant Marine Academy midshipmen stranded for about a month, with “no clear way to evacuate.” One source said of Pentagon leadership that, “[t]hey literally do not think about the second-, third- or fourth-order implications” of these major operations.
“The safety and well-being of our service members should be a top priority for DoD leadership. That requires careful consideration of major operations like Epic Fury and plans to prevent possible harm from foreseeable attacks, like retaliation with drone strikes,” said the senators.
The senators asked Secretary Hegseth to explain the decision to place troops in Kuwait, why requests for additional protections were denied, and how the Pentagon is ensuring the protection of U.S. troops during Operation Epic Fury by May 11, 2026.
Click here to read the full letter.
Source: Senator Mark Kelly
