The bodies are piling up even before the real storm arrives.
Seven American service members are dead. Dozens more lie in military hospitals with serious wounds.
President Donald Trump, in a televised phone interview, called it a “great deal” — the price of doing business in a war he insists will be over in four weeks.
“We have three, but we expect casualties,” Trump said. “In the end, it’s going to be a great deal for the world.”
Try telling that to the families who just lost a son or daughter.
Almost immediately, social media users drew a comparison between Trump’s words and a line delivered by the villainous Lord Farquaad in the 2001 animated film “Shrek”: “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
U.S. Central Command confirmed the first American deaths in the conflict Sunday but offered few details, citing respect for the families. “The situation is fluid,” the statement read. Meanwhile, Iran’s retaliation has barely begun, and the body count is already spreading across the globe like wildfire.
In Pakistan, at least 22 people are dead, and more than 120 have been wounded after security forces clashed with protesters attempting to storm the U.S. Consulate in Karachi.
Thousands had taken to the streets, enraged by the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader. The video showed young men climbing the consulate gates, smashing windows, and setting fires. Police opened fire. The death toll, rescue workers said, is expected to rise.
In Austin, Texas, a gunman wearing a sweatshirt that read “Property of Allah” opened fire outside a packed bar in the city’s Sixth Street entertainment district shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday. Two people were killed; more than a dozen were wounded.
The FBI is investigating the mass shooting as a potential act of terrorism. The shooter, identified as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized citizen from Senegal, was shot and killed by police.
Investigators found a Quran and clothing described as Islamic garb in his vehicle.
In Israel, six people were wounded, one seriously, after a ballistic missile impact near Jerusalem. Sirens wailed across central Israel as Iran continued its barrage.
Nine were killed, and 70 were wounded when a missile struck a bomb shelter in Beit Shemesh; six remain missing beneath the rubble.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, the Pentagon insists, was not hit — despite Iranian claims to the contrary.
“The missiles launched didn’t even come close,” said Central Command, which did not share any details about the three American deaths.
B-2 stealth bombers, each carrying 2,000-pound bunker busters, continue to pound underground Iranian facilities.
The economic shockwaves are already rattling wallets from Trenton to Teaneck.
Brent crude jumped 10 percent to about $80 a barrel, with analysts predicting $100 if the conflict drags on.
Most tanker owners have suspended shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, where more than 20 percent of the world’s oil flows.
The last time New Jersey saw gas prices like what’s coming, it wasn’t pretty.
Progressive New Jersey Democrat Lisa McCormick didn’t mince words, comparing Trump’s four-week prediction to Russia’s three-day fantasy in Ukraine.
“Four years have passed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which was supposed to last three days,” McCormick said. “Instead, Ukraine reinvented modern warfare, built a drone industry and can destroy a thousand Russian soldiers in a day.”
Trump’s rhetoric drew comparisons to a cartoon villain. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties,” he said in a video post. “That often happens in war.” Social media users were quick to note the resemblance to Lord Farquaad in the animated film “Shrek”: “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, called for the first time for regime change in Iran. “A credible transition in Iran is urgently needed,” she said.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, struck a different tone, telling Oman that Tehran remains open to “any serious efforts at de-escalation.” But with 48 Iranian leaders dead, according to Trump’s count, and a girls’ school in southern Iran leveled with 165 students killed, the window for diplomacy is closing fast.
The United Arab Emirates has closed its embassy in Tehran and withdrawn its ambassador. Ben Gurion Airport is shuttered until at least Friday. U.S. Central Command says it has struck over 1,000 Iranian targets since Saturday.
And the real retaliation hasn’t even started.
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