President Trump appears solemn as he lands at Delaware air base to welcome residence six American troopers killed within the Iran battle

President Donald Trump arrived to a Delaware Air Force base to welcome home the six dead soldiers who were killed in the Iranian war, as they are prepared to be taken to their final resting place Saturday. 

The Republican appeared somber as he stepped off Air Force One with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth around 1:30pm after landing at Dover Air Force Base for the dignified transfer of the six soldiers.  

The bodies of Nicole Amor, 39; Cody Khork, 35; Robert Marzan, 54; Jeffrey O’Brien, 45; Noah Tietjens, 42; and Declan Coady, 20, have returned to US soil after the military aircraft landed earlier this afternoon. 

The six soldiers were killed in Kuwait during Iran’s retaliatory drone strikes on Sunday. 

American flags will be draped over their caskets in the dignified transfer as they are carried to a vehicle that transports them to a mortuary facility. 

Trump had announced that he would attend the ceremony on Friday night, saying he was bringing his wife and First Lady Melania Trump and members of his cabinet along to ‘pay our highest respect to our great warriors.’ 

‘God bless them all,’ he wrote. 

On Saturday morning, while speaking at the Shield of the Americas Summit in Florida before heading to Delaware, the president admitted the six soldiers are ‘coming home from Iran…in a different manner than they thought they’d be coming home.’ 

‘They’re great heroes in our country,’ he told the summit.  

Trump also warned that more Americans lives could be lost as more military action takes place in the Middle East, as Iran has continued to strike at US bases. 

The Republican has vowed to hit Iran ‘very hard’ on Saturday, he said in a Truth Social post. 

‘Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time,’ he wrote.  

However, a leaked spy report by the National Intelligence Council warned that Trump’s military action could be disastrous. 

In just one week, tensions have dramatically risen in the region, starting with a joint military operation conducted by the US and Israel against Iran.

The strikes took out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Iran retaliated by targeting US military bases in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Trump has stood firm on the military attack, but a report completed by the NIC just a week before raised doubts about the US’s ability to overthrow the regime.

The NIC is a federal government agency that reports to the Director of National Intelligence. NIC members bridge 18 intelligence agencies with policymakers to provide analytical assessments.

Three people familiar with the findings told the Washington Post that Iran would likely respond to Khamenei’s death by following protocols to preserve the regime. Sources said it was ‘unlikely’ that Iran’s opposition would seize control.

Khamenei’s successor has yet to be named. Iran’s Assembly of Experts and high-ranking members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been tasked with naming his replacement.

Ayatollah’s son, Mojitaba Khamenei, is rumored to be assuming the role, but Trump has previously called him ‘incompetent’ and a ‘lightweight.’

The uncertainty of success has made it harder for the six soldiers families, whom some should have been days away from reuniting with their loved ones if they were still alive.    

Amor’s husband, Joey, said his wife had been due home, and he originally had no worries upon hearing about her deployment to Kuwait, the Associated Press said. 

‘You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something’s going to happen, and for her to be one of the first – it hurts,’ he said. 

O’Brien had been in the Army Reserve for nearly 15 years. His family remembered him on Facebook as the ‘sweetest blue-eyed, blonde farm kid you’d ever know.’ 

‘He is so missed already,’ his aunt wrote. 

Marzan’s sister described him as a ‘strong leader’ and a loving husband and father. 

‘My baby brother, you are loved, and I will hold onto all our memories and cherish them always in my heart,’ she wrote. 

Coady’s father said his son ‘loved being a soldier’ and was ‘one of the most kindest [sic] people you would ever meet.’ 

‘He would do anything and everything for anyone,’ his dad said. 

Khork’s family remembered him as the ‘life of the party’ who had an ‘infectious spirit’ and a ‘generous heart.’ 

Tietjens had previously served in Kuwait alongside his father. He left behind a wife and a 12-year-old. 

Republican Senator, Joni Ernst, a combat veteran, said the nation ‘owes them an incredible debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.’ 

‘These soldiers engaged in the most noble mission: protecting their fellow Americans and keeping our homeland secure,’ he said. 

This will be the fourth dignified transfer that Trump will attend since his first term. It will be his second since he took office in January 2025. 

Trump recently traveled to Dover in December to honor two Iowa National Guard members and a US  civilian interpreter who were killed in an ambush attack in the Syrian desert.   

Just weeks into his first term, Trump went to his first dignified transfer ceremony on February 1, 2017, where Bill Owens, the father of the slain William ‘Ryan’ Owens, refused to shake the President’s hand.

The elder Owens was enraged that Trump had approved a raid in Yemen just six days into his term.

Trump did not return to Dover for another dignified transfer ceremony until nearly two years later – on January 19, 2019.