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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe United States has said it has destroyed the headquarters of Iran\u2019s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, declaring it had \u201ccut off the head of the snake\u201d in a sweeping assault.In a statement, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said a large-scale American strike had wiped out the IRGC\u2019s main command facilities. \u201cAmerica has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters,\u201d it said. The command accused the corps of having \u201ckilled more than 1,000 Americans over the past 47 years\u201d, adding that the latest operation had dealt a decisive blow.The announcement came on the second day of joint US-Israeli bombardments that also killed Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in one of the opening strikes. Washington said major combat operations were continuing as part of Operation Epic Fury, with B-2 stealth bombers deploying 2,000-pound bombs against hardened missile facilities and US naval forces striking targets in the Gulf of Oman.CENTCOM confirmed that three US service members had been killed in action and five seriously wounded, marking the first publicly acknowledged American casualties in the conflict. \u201cSeveral others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions,\u201d it said, adding that identities would be withheld until families were notified. No details were given about where the deaths occurred.President Donald Trump<\/a>, speaking from his Florida resort, focused on battlefield gains. He said 48 Iranian leaders had been killed \u201cin one shot\u201d and that nine Iranian naval vessels had been destroyed. Posting on Truth Social after the casualties were reported, he wrote: \u201cWe have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important.\u201d He did not mention the American fatalities.Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards claimed they had struck the USS Abraham Lincoln with four ballistic missiles, but CENTCOM denied this. \u201cThe missiles launched didn\u2019t even come close. The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM\u2019s relentless campaign,\u201d it said.The conflict has already spread beyond Iran and Israel. Tehran has fired missiles and drones at Israeli cities and at US military installations across the Gulf. Nearly two dozen people were killed in Pakistan after protesters attempted to storm a US consulate, while airspace closures across the region left hundreds of thousands stranded.Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called the deaths of US troops \u201cheartbroken\u201d news and urged Congress to restrain what he described as a \u201creckless decision to go to war\u201d. US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz<\/a> wrote simply: \u201cFreedom is never free.\u201dWith Iran\u2019s provisional governing council now meeting to name a successor and Washington insisting that \u201cheavy and pinpoint bombing\u201d will continue, fears are mounting of a wider regional war and deepening global economic shock.<\/div>\n\n