The third soldier killed in an Iranian strike on a base in Jordan on Friday has been identified as a 28-year-old New York resident.
Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, was one of three US service members killed when Iranian forces attacked the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base on Friday, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.
She had previously been listed as missing in action, but is now ‘believed to be deceased’ along with First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, who were also killed in the attack.
Rampersad belonged to the same unit as Gonzales — the 10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command based in Ansbach, Germany.
‘Angel was truly a gift to everyone who knew her. She never sought attention or recognition. She simply wanted to serve, protect others and do her duty with courage and humility,’ New York Assemblyman Pesach Osina said in a statement.
He went on to say he was in contact with Rampersad’s mother, Carol Acevedo, and her father, Basdeo Rampersad.
‘There are no words that can ease the pain of losing a child, but our entire community stands beside them during this unimaginable time,’ Osina said.
‘May Angel’s memory be a blessing and may God bring comfort and strength to her family and to the families of the other two service members.’
Meanwhile, a fourth US soldier killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone over the weekend was identified on Tuesday as Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton, a 30-year-old father from North Carolina who had served for nearly a decade.
Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, was one of three US service members killed at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base on Friday
Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, and First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, were killed when Iranian forces attacked the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on Friday
Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, was listed as missing following the attack but is now ‘believed to be deceased’
Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton will now receive a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant. The Army said it was investigating the circumstances of his death Sunday at an air base in Irbil.
Swinton leaves behind a six-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter, his mother said.
‘I will never recover from this,’ his wife, Mia Gonzalez-Swinton, posted Monday on Facebook. ‘We had so many plans for when you got back, I’m sick to my stomach.’ She said she was notified Sunday that he had been killed.
‘His legacy will live on through the countless lives he touched, the laughter he shared, the strength he gave others, and the unconditional love he poured into his family,’ she said via text message. ‘He will forever be missed, forever honored, and forever our hero.’
Swinton enlisted in the Army in 2017 and was assigned to the 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
He lived in Spring Lake, a popular off-base location for Fort Bragg families, according to pubic records. The military gave his hometown as Fayetteville, another nearby community.
‘Sgt. Swinton was an experienced noncommissioned officer who took great pride in his work and the people around him,’ said Brig. Gen. John L. Dawber, commanding general of the Army Air and Missile Defense Command. ‘He answered the call to duty with courage, honor, and selfless dedication.’
A total of 18 US servicemembers have been killed since the war against Iran began in late February.
Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, a 30-year-old father from North Carolina, was killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone
An Iranian missile was launched on Tuesday
US Central Command said on Tuesday it had conducted precision strikes targeting Iranian military capabilities the night before
Despite a brief ceasefire, hostilities were re-enflamed last week after Iranian forces fired on a commercial ship traversing the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.
The US fired back at Iran in the aftermath, and the renewed strikes between the two countries have now continued for an 11th straight night on Tuesday as Iran kept up its attacks against US allies in the region and once again struck a tanker in the strait, forcing the crew to abandon the ship.
As day broke in the Middle East, sirens in Bahrain and Kuwait warned residents of incoming projectiles.
At the same time, Iran-backed Yemen’s Houthi rebels declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, threatening the flow of global oil supplies and trade.
With the Strait of Hormuz blocked up, the kingdom has been relying on a pipeline to the Red Sea to get millions of barrels of oil out to market.
A news agency in Yemen that is run by the Houthis, SABA, said Tuesday that six ships in the Red Sea were forced to reroute after they received warnings from the rebel group.
Three Houthi officials told the Associated Press the group warned international shipping companies on Monday to avoid transiting through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz.
Protesters who support Yemen’s Houthi group brandish weapons and shout slogans as they celebrate the ban decision imposed against the maritime shipping of Saudi Arabia
Amid the fighting, the international benchmark for crude oil traded Tuesday above $91 a barrel and regular gasoline in the US climbed to an average of $4 a gallon.
At the same time, an estimated $37 billion has been spent in the US on the war effort – as the Trump administration demands another $67 billion in emergency funding for the conflict.
But with US midterm elections approaching in the fall, polls have pointed to the unpopularity of the war among Americans, who have felt the pain of pricier gas and seen new casualties in a conflict that weeks ago seemed to be winding down.
As Secretary of War Pete Hegseth then petitioned Congress to approve the increased funding on Tuesday, he was berated by protesters.
‘Your hands are bloody,’ one woman said as US Capitol police dragged her from the room.
Hegseth resumed talking, only to be interrupted again a few seconds later.
‘Stop bombing our children in Iran and Palestine – this is illegal,’ a second woman stood and shouted.
Both held signs saying in all caps, ‘NO WAR ON IRAN.’
U.S. Capitol Police remove a protester from the Tuesday hearing
Meanwhile overseas, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict seeking to revamp diplomacy where he met Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
In a statement, Sharif expressed deep concern over the recent US-Iran escalation, and urged all sides to exercise restraint and avoid actions that could further destabilize the region.
Pakistan’s political leadership and Munir, who serves as both the chief of army staff and defense forces, played a key role in brokering last month´s interim agreement between the US and Iran. Islamabad has been working to persuade both sides to return to the negotiating table.
US President Donald Trump also told reporters that Iranian officials ‘want to desperately meet. And until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in meeting.’
He said the US would soon target the area near Pickaxe Mountain – a fortified underground site near one of Iran´s primary nuclear enrichment facilities.
Iran’s military leaders said any attack on nuclear or ‘other sensitive facilities’ would be considered a major escalation, according to a statement reported by Iranian state media.
‘We declare that if the invading and terrorist military of that country enters such a phase, we will regard it as an expansion of the war across the region, and all interests of the United States, its allies, and its supporters will become targets of powerful attacks by the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ said the statement from the armed forces’ Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
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