2,000+ dead in Iran

Mar 03, 2026 News

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…as Trump warns: ‘The big wave is yet to come’
…1,500 IRGC fighters among reported casualties
…1,200+ targets already hit in three days of war
…555 civilians reported dead in escalating strikes

(Kaieteur News) – The death toll from the widening U.S.–Israel assault on Iran has surged past 2,000, with more than 1,500 members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reportedly killed, at least 555 civilians dead, and six U.S. soldiers confirmed slain, yet President Donald Trump says the most devastating phase of the war is still ahead.

In just three days, American and Israeli forces have struck more than 1,200 targets across Iran, a figure expected to climb rapidly. Even as explosions continue to rock strategic sites, Trump declared in a nine-minute interview Monday that the military campaign is “going very well,” but warned ominously: “We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”

President Trump told CNN Monday morning that the US military is “knocking the crap” out of Iran – but the “big wave” is yet to come. “We’re knocking the crap out of them,” Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful. We’ve got the greatest military in the world and we’re using it.”  Trump addressed a wide range of topics in the interview, including the expected length of the conflict, his surprise at Iran’s widespread retaliation and the country’s expected succession plan.

On how long the war might last, the president said, “I don’t want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks. And we’re a little ahead of schedule.”  Asked if the US is doing more beyond the military assault to help the Iranian people regain control of their country from the regime, Trump said, “Yes.”  “We are indeed. But right now we want everyone staying inside. It’s not safe out there.”  And it’s about to get even less safe, the president said.

“We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”

The ‘biggest surprise’ so far

So far, the president said, “the biggest surprise” has been Iran’s attacks against Arab countries in the region: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. “We were surprised,” Trump said. “We told them, ‘We’ve got this,’ and now they want to fight. And they’re aggressively fighting. They were going to be very little involved and now they insist on being involved.”  Of the Arab leaders, the president told CNN, “I know these people. They’re tough and smart.”

The Iranians, he said, “shot into a hotel, they shot into an apartment house. It just made them angry. They love us, but they were watching. There was no reason for them to be involved.”  Of Iran’s attacks on them, he said “that was probably the biggest surprise.”  Trump pointed to the Iranian nuclear threat as having been a major issue in the region for some time. “You have to understand, they were living under that dark cloud for years. That’s why you could never have peace,” he said.

Succession in Iran

On who might emerge to lead Iran, Trump said, “We don’t know who the leadership is. We don’t know who they’ll pick. Maybe they’ll get lucky and get someone who knows what they’re doing.” The Iranians, he said, lost “a lot in terms of leadership” because of the initial strikes. “Forty-nine people,” Trump said. “It was an amazing strike.”  “They got a little bit arrogant” by meeting all in one place, he added. “They thought they were undetectable. They weren’t undetectable. We were shocked by it.”  Trump said it was unclear who was now leading the country.  “They don’t even know who’s leading them now,” Trump said. “We went down 49” Iranian leaders.  “Those were the leaders, and some of them were being considered,” Trump said. But with more than four dozen killed, “we don’t know who’s leading the country now. They don’t know who’s leading. It’s a little like the unemployment line.”

‘We couldn’t make a deal with these people’

The president said that his team tried to negotiate with the Iranians but “we couldn’t make a deal with these people.” Every new offer, he said, was met with a walk-back of previous offers.  The Iranians wouldn’t agree to end their enrichment of uranium, Trump said.  “They had all that enriched stuff. They looked at redoing it there, but it was in such bad shape, the mountain had basically collapsed,” Trump said.

Trump said of his military action: “This is the way” to deal with Iran.  “We don’t have to worry about agreements.” He pointed to the country’s long history of causing destruction in the region after the 1979 revolution.  “You go back 37 years, really 47 years, close to 50, look at what’s happened and all the death. People in the military walking around with no legs, walking around with no arms, their faces shattered,” he said.  Trump said he asked his team for a list of all the Iranian or Iranian-backed attacks against the US and US allies and interests.

“Over the last 47 years. I said, ‘give me all of the attacks.’ If I told you all of them I’d still be talking,” he said.  The latest military operation is part of a long-term campaign to eliminate the Iranian threat, Trump said. “We took out Soleimani last time,” referring to the January 3, 2020, US drone strike against Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani. “He was an unbelievably violent, vicious general.”

The strike against Soleimani “was a big move,” the president said. “If that didn’t happen, then you might not have Israel today. Israel might not exist.” Then “we had Midnight Hammer – very important,” the president said, referring to the June 2025 US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. “They were a month away from having a nuclear weapon.”

Criticizing President Barack Obama’s nuclear weapons deal, the president said “it was the Iran nuclear deal because it gave all the power to Iran. They would have had a nuclear weapon three or four years ago. They would have used it against Israel. They maybe would have used it against us.” “That deal was so bad,” Trump said, “it was a pathway to a bomb.”  In the latest talks, the Iranians “weren’t willing to give us what we asked for. They should have done it.”  “So it’s going good,” Trump said, before getting off the phone.

US soldiers killed

Meanwhile, the first US service members to die in the conflict were killed by a direct Iranian strike on a makeshift operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait on Sunday morning local time, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. The death toll from that event at the Shuaiba port has since risen to six, US Central Command announced on Monday afternoon, after the remains of two additional service members were recovered.  Earlier Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the strike that killed the service members hit a “tactical operation center that was fortified,” but there was “one” projectile that made it through air defenses. CNN previously reported the event was a suspected drone strike.

The source familiar said it was a direct hit just after 9 a.m. local time, on the center of the building they described as a triple-wide trailer with office space inside. The attack came quickly and with no warning or sirens to alert troops to evacuate or get into a bunker, the source said. Hours after the strike, fire was still smoldering in some parts of the building, the source described – the inside of the makeshift operations center blackened and the walls blown outwards from the blast, some parts peeling away from the building.

A satellite image taken Sunday morning showed a building at the port on fire and dark smoke billowing into the sky. US Central Command initially said that three service members were killed but didn’t specify the location of the strike. There were dozens of people at the site, the source said, but the final service members who were declared killed in action were unaccounted for when the dust settled. With the building still burning in some places, it took time to recover the remaining service members, the source said.

The CENTCOM release on Monday also said a facility was struck “during Iran’s initial attacks.” The military has not identified the troops killed on Sunday, as families are still being notified.

CENTCOM’s statement said US forces “recently recovered the remains of two previously unaccounted for service members” from the facility that was struck.  The six casualties are the first killed in action in the military operation against Iran that began early Saturday Eastern standard time, dubbed Operation Epic Fury. Hegseth and President Donald Trump have both said that more casualties are likely. A CENTCOM spokesperson said Monday that 18 troops have been seriously wounded throughout the US military’s operation.  Speaking to reporters on Monday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine called the service members killed in action “the best that our nation has to offer” and “true examples of what selfless service means.”  “Our deepest and heartfelt condolences are with their families, their friends, and their units,” he said. “We grieve with you and we will never forget you.”

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• death toll, Donald Trump, Iran, U.S.–Israel assault on Iran

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