“I’m heartbroken to learn that another American service member was lost in action in Iraq yesterday. Our troops and their families make a courageous commitment to our country and we will always honor their bravery and sacrifice.” That was the statement Rep. Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., posted to X at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 19, responding to news that a U.S. service member had been killed a day earlier in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.
Gillen’s post came in the wake of a U.S. Central Command release detailing the northern Iraq incident alongside a separate, still-developing situation in Jordan. According to CENTCOM, the service member killed in Iraq died July 18 while working to dispose of unexploded ordnance left behind by an Iranian drone; a second service member involved was wounded and continues to receive treatment for a minor injury. CENTCOM has not released the identity of the fallen service member, saying it will withhold that information until 24 hours after next of kin are notified.
Part of a Wider CENTCOM Update
The Iraq fatality was disclosed alongside an update on the separate July 17 attack in Jordan, where Iranian ballistic missiles and drones struck U.S. and partner forces. CENTCOM said that after a “thorough search,” military personnel had located unidentified remains at that site on Sunday, more than a day after two service members were confirmed killed and a third reported missing there. An examination process to verify the remains was still underway as of CENTCOM’s Sunday release. Gillen’s statement, posted the same afternoon, focused specifically on the Iraq death rather than the Jordan search, reflecting the rapid pace at which new information was emerging from the region over the weekend.
A Congresswoman Who Has Backed a Hard Line on Iran
Gillen, a first-term representative for New York’s 4th Congressional District on Long Island, has staked out a position on the broader Iran conflict that emphasizes both support for military readiness against Tehran and concern for the safety of American troops. In a statement on a House war powers resolution earlier this year, Gillen described Iran as “the world’s leading state sponsor of terror” and said the country had “defied diplomacy and continues to seek to obtain a nuclear weapon,” a development she called an “unacceptable existential threat” that the U.S. “must remain ready to act to prevent”.
That same statement, however, also urged caution about further escalation. Gillen said that “now that we face escalation, the Administration must not put boots on the ground and risk the lives of our service members while there is no plan to end this conflict,” and called on the administration to bring Congress “a framework to end Iran’s aggression, prevent further loss of servicemembers’ lives, safeguard our economy, and protect Israel and our allies in the region.” The statement credited the “joint U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran” with degrading Iranian military capabilities, while stopping short of the more sweeping antiwar position taken by some of her Democratic colleagues.
Representing a Long Island District
Gillen, who took office in January 2025 after previously serving as town supervisor of Hempstead, New York, represents a suburban Nassau County district and sits on the House Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, and on Transportation and Infrastructure. She has generally aligned with the New Democrat Coalition, a bloc of House Democrats that has often taken more centrist positions on national security matters than the party’s left flank.
Sunday’s statement was consistent with that posture: an expression of grief and gratitude toward service members and their families, framed around military sacrifice rather than direct criticism of the administration’s broader war strategy. It stood in contrast to statements from some other members of Congress reacting to the same CENTCOM release, several of whom used the moment to directly fault the administration’s handling of the conflict.
The Broader Toll
Sunday’s developments brought the number of American service members killed or unaccounted for in the space of three days to at least four: two confirmed dead and one reported missing in the July 17 Jordan attack, whose case remained under review pending identification of newly found remains, and the separate fatality in northern Iraq referenced directly in Gillen’s statement. Four additional service members wounded in the Jordan attack were medically evacuated to hospitals and have since been discharged, according to CENTCOM.