Trump and first lady attend dignified transfer for 6 US troops killed in Kuwait
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump participated in a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Kent County, Delaware, on Saturday for six U.S. service members killed in a March 1 Iranian drone attack in Kuwait.
The solemn ritual returns the remains of troops killed in action and is considered one of the most somber duties of a commander-in-chief.
The fallen troops were killed in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, while supporting Operation Epic Fury.
Transfer cases were used to move the soldiers to Dover Air Force Base, where they will be identified and prepared for their journey home.
After identification, the fallen, who were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command from Des Moines, Iowa, are placed in a casket and transported to their final resting places.
All six were U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, and transports equipment and supplies.
The War Department identified the fallen service members as Maj. Jeffery O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California, is also believed to be deceased.
Each of the soldiers’ families were present at the transfer.
Trump, speaking at a summit of Latin American leaders in Miami before traveling to Delaware, called the fallen service members heroes “coming home in a different manner than they thought they’d be coming home.”
He described the attack as “a very sad situation” and pledged to keep American war deaths “to a minimum.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who also attended the ritual, wrote in a social media post on Friday of “an unbreakable spirit to honor their memory and the resolve they embodied.”
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Officials said the soldiers were supporting operations in the region when the unmanned aircraft struck their position.
Khork enlisted in the National Guard in 2009 as a multiple launch rocket system/fire direction specialist, then commissioned as a military police officer in the Army Reserve in 2014. He deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2018, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 2021, and Poland in 2024. His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with 10 Year Device and “M” Device.
Amor joined the National Guard in 2005 as an automated logistics specialist and transferred to the Army Reserve the following year. She deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in 2019 and earned multiple commendations, including the Army Commendation Medal and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device.
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Tietjens entered the Army Reserve in 2006 as a wheeled vehicle mechanic and completed two deployments to Kuwait in 2009 and 2019. His decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star.
Coady enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2023 as an information technology specialist and was posthumously promoted from specialist to sergeant. His awards include the National Defense Service Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
O’Brien served nearly 15 years in the Army Reserve. Commissioned in 2012 as a Signal Corps officer, he was promoted to major in 2024 and previously deployed to Kuwait in 2019. In civilian life, he worked in cybersecurity and defensive cyber operations.
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Marzan, of Sacramento, California, was an Army reservist assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command. Family and state officials described him as a devoted husband and father.
Fetterman condemns Democrats for refusing to put ‘country over party’ on Iran strikes
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., accused fellow Democrats of putting party over country in their opposition to President Donald Trump’s strikes against the Iranian regime during an interview Saturday on Fox News.
He broke with members of his own party Wednesday as he defended the operation as necessary to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
“I don’t know why we can’t just be honest,” Fetterman told “Saturday in America.”
“The last two professional candidates for the Democratic Party all agreed that we can never allow Iran to acquire nuclear bombs, and that’s made that possible now. I think we can say, ‘Hey, that’s a great thing. That makes the world more safe, more secure and holds Iran accountable.'”
Fetterman’s criticism comes after 53 House Democrats voted against a resolution declaring Iran a state sponsor of terror. He argued his colleagues’ stance reflects a concerning shift within the party.
“That’s almost 25% of Democrats in the House that can’t just call Iran the world’s biggest terrorism underwriter,” Fetterman said.
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Fetterman was the lone Senate Democrat to vote against a resolution seeking to limit Trump’s war powers on Wednesday, arguing that longstanding bipartisan beliefs have always opposed Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“That’s where our party’s been heading now… I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t just identify that’s what Iran is,” he added.
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“Virtually every Democrat that I’m aware of says we can never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb, and they were a significant risk to America,” Fetterman said.
“I know why they [Democrats] don’t say that now, because I’m aware that it is very damaging as a Democrat to just happen to agree with the president on anything, but for me, that’s easy — country over party.”
Farage slams British prime minister for ‘extraordinary’ lack of support for Trump’s Iran strikes
PALM BEACH, Fla. — British opposition leader Nigel Farage is taking aim at his country’s prime minister for not supporting the U.S. in its military strikes against Iran.
“I think not to support America when it asks for support is a pretty extraordinary thing to have done.,” Farage, the leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, said in an exclusive interview Saturday with Fox News Digital.
President Donald Trump has blasted Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer for initially blocking the U.S. from using British military bases, specifically Diego Garcia, a strategic base located on an Indian Ocean island, for strikes against Iran during Operation Epic Fury. Starmer later permitted the use of the bases for “defensive strikes” after Trump’s complaints.
Starmer hasn’t spoken to Trump since they connected on a call last weekend after the U.S. and Israel launched their strikes on Iran. The British prime minister has made clear his country would not be joining the U.S. in attacking Iran, emphasizing he didn’t believe in “regime change from the skies.”
Trump, taking a jab at Starmer, said earlier this week, “This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with.”
Farage criticized Starmer for not changing his stance, “even now, despite the fact that we’ve got an RAF base in Cyprus that’s been under attack, we’ve got allies of ours in the Gulf that are under attack.”
“I think there’s been less than wholehearted support has come for the Americans in this endeavor. And I think the British prime minister on the world stage, he’s upset the Americans,” Farage said. “He’s upset the Cypriots. He’s upset the Gulf states. And he’s pretty friendless at the moment.”
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Farage, who seven years ago founded the populist Brexit Party, which later transformed into the Reform UK party, was interviewed ahead of an appearance at an annual economic conference in Florida hosted by the Club for Growth, an influential and politically potent political group that pushes for fiscal responsibility.
Starmer has been feeling Trump’s wrath not only for their differences over the attack on Iran, but also over the British deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, the Indian Ocean archipelago where Diego Garcia is located, to Mauritius. Starmer has argued his lease-back deal is the only way to secure the British-U.S. military base on Diego Garcia.
Farage, who has been vocal in his opposition to the deal, told Fox News Digital that “outside of America itself,” Diego Garcia “is the most important base you’ve got in the whole world. Now it’s there as part of British sovereignty. We have a treaty between us that goes back to 1966 and Keir Starmer is on the verge of giving away the sovereignty of the Chagos islands and Diego Garcia to Mauritius.”
“If Trump initially had problems with the Brits over using the base, just think what it will be like with the heavily Chinese-influenced Mauritians. They already have said they believe that America should not have struck Iran, that it was against international law, then are calling for a ceasefire,” Farage said.
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Farage, who said his opposition to the deal was a key factor in his weekend trip to the U.S., said, “I would just urge the president, this administration, stay firm. Tell the British government you will not accept giving away of sovereignty to Mauritius, and let’s ensure a future for Diego Garcia. I think it’s really important.”
Farage, who’s hoping to become Britain’s next prime minister, argued that Starmer’s relationship with Trump is beyond repair.
“I think the personal relationship between Keir Starmer and Donald Trump has gone. I mean, Trump can be forgiving, but, you know, that would take a long time. So, I think that breakdown is there,” he said.
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As for the longstanding bonds between the two countries, known as the “special relationship,” Farage was more optimistic.
“The special relationship went through bad times in the past. We had a massive fallout 70 years ago over Suez, but we got back together again. I’m convinced it can, and it will, be mended,” he predicted.