OAN Staff Addie Davis
6:28 AM – Tuesday, July 21, 2026
The United States soldier killed in Iraq during a “controlled detonation” of a downed drone was identified by the Department of War.
U.S. Army Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30 years old, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was killed in action at Erbil Air Base in Northern Iraq, according to a Tuesday statement by the War Department.
On Sunday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the soldier was killed on Saturday during “a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.” The command also stated another service member was wounded and was receiving treatment for a “minor injury.” The War Department said the incident was under investigation.
Swinton was assigned to D Battery, 2nd Battalion, 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
On Monday, President Donald Trump issued a stark warning for the Islamic Republic, vowing that, “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!”
Since the advent of the Iranian conflict, 17 U.S. service members have died, including two killed due to a Friday strike in Jordan, and hundreds more injured. According to CENTCOM, more than 50,000 U.S. service members are deployed across the Middle East.
CENTCOM also announced that U.S. forces completed another wave of strikes against Iran on Monday night, marking the tenth consecutive night of attacks on Iranian infrastructure. The five-hour wave was “designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“U.S. forces struck Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial vessels flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said on Monday.
The command asserted that commercial traffic is continuing through the strait, with CENTCOM purportedly having assisted about 900 commercial vessels and 450 million barrels of crude oil transit the vital waterway.
“American forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression toward civilian mariners seeking to freely and openly transit the strait,” the command said.
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