Democratic lawmakers demand Pentagon answers after deadliest Iranian drone strike on U.S. troops

A coalition of Democratic lawmakers, including Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Pat Ryan, has formally requested that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth justify the Pentagon’s readiness for the Iranian drone strike on the U.S. command center at Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on March 1. The strike, occurring on the second day of the Iran war, killed six service members—Captain Cody Khork, Sergeant First Class Noah Teitjens, Sergeant First Class Nicole Amor, Sergeant Declan Coady, Major Jeffrey O’Brien and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan—and injured over 30 others, making it the deadliest U.S. loss in the conflict.

Lawmakers allege that intelligence indicating the base was a likely target was ignored and that soldiers’ pleas for additional medical resources went unanswered, a claim supported by survivor accounts such as Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom’s expectation of an aid convoy that never arrived. Another survivor, Ann Marie Carrier, said the Army had not rehearsed a mass-casualty response before launching Operation Epic Fury. The letter also accuses Hegseth of downplaying the number of seriously wounded. In response, a Pentagon spokesperson said the department will reply directly to the congressional correspondence.