Donald Trump is expected to attend the dignified transfer on Saturday for six American soldiers killed in an Iranian attack in Kuwait, the White House announced on Friday, as the escalating conflict with Iran records its first American fatalities.
The troops were killed on Sunday when a drone struck a major U.S. command centre in Kuwait’s southern industrial area of Port Shuaiba, a day after the United States and Israel launched a large-scale military campaign against Iran.
The dignified transfer will take place at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the facility where the remains of American service members killed overseas are returned to U.S. soil.
The fallen soldiers — five men and one woman between the ages of 20 and 54 — were members of the 103rd Sustainment Command, a unit responsible for providing troops with food, fuel, equipment and ammunition.
A dignified transfer is considered one of the most solemn responsibilities carried out by a U.S. president.
Although it is not a formal government ceremony, it is a carefully coordinated military ritual in which flag-draped transfer cases carrying the remains of fallen troops are removed from an aircraft by service members from the same military branch.
The cases are then placed into waiting vehicles that transport them to the mortuary facility at Dover, where the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System conducts identification procedures and prepares the remains for burial.
Trump has attended several such transfers during his presidency, and the White House had earlier indicated that he would pay tribute to the six service members killed in Kuwait, even before the date of the ceremony was confirmed.
“Tomorrow, he’ll be traveling to Joint Base Dover, to attend the dignified transfer of the remains of the six service members who were killed in the opening salvo that Iran launched at our forces,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
The attack that killed the troops highlights the risks faced by U.S. personnel stationed across the Middle East as tensions with Iran intensify, with Tehran launching drones and missiles at American and allied targets across the region.
U.S. officials have warned that the fighting could escalate further in the coming days.
