Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, was killed in Saudi Arabia.
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israel strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed in Tehran on the first day of strikes. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.
Iran is responding to the operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and multiple Gulf nations. Israel is also intensifying its long-running strike campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
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The Israeli defense forces have launched "another wave of strikes," against Iran, the IDF said in a post on X.
The post said it was targeting the regime's "ballistic missile array and air defense systems."
-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, in a statement posted on social media on Saturday, criticized Trump's strikes on Iran as "dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want," calling the gambit a "dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives that also jeopardizes stability in the region and our standing in the world."
"I know the threat that Iran poses, and they must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, but this is not the way to dismantle that threat ... And let us all be clear-eyed about what comes next. The President has already said this conflict may produce American casualties," Harris wrote.
She also criticized Trump's campaign promise to not start new wars as "a lie", as well as Trump's claim last year that he had obliterated Iran's main nuclear program.
-ABC News' Oren Oppenheim
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a statement on social media about "Operation Epic Fury," writing: "The Iranian regime had their chance, yet refused to make a deal - and now they are suffering the consequences."
Hegseth reaffirmed that not only would Iran's missiles and missile production be destroyed, but that "The Iranian navy will be destroyed."
Hegseth's post continued: "As President Trump has said his entire life, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The United States did not start this conflict, but we will finish it."
The UAE intercepted 137 ballistic missiles and 195 drones launched from Iran towards the country since the start of the Iranian attack, the UAE's Ministry of Defense said in a post on X.
Out of the 137 missiles launched towards the UAE, 132 were destroyed, and five fell into the sea, the ministry said.
Out of the 209 drones detected, 195 were intercepted. The other 14 landed within UAE territory and waters, "causing some" damage, the ministry said.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
