Donald Trump claims parents of six soldiers killed in Iran war had request for him

Donald Trump has revealed the request that the families of six US soldiers who died in the Iran conflict had for him.

The conflict in the Middle East has been raging on for more than a week now, after America and Israel issued joint airstrikes on Iran, killing the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on 28 February.

Since then, Iran has retaliated by carrying out widespread missile and drone attacks, targeting American assets and allies, such as Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In recent days, the conflict's impact has widened significantly, with Iran continuing to retaliate and Israel striking Lebanon.

The Pentagon has identified several US service members who have been killed in the war so far, with the seventh, 26-year-old Army Sgt Benjamin N Pennington, being identified just yesterday (9 March).

Before this, on Saturday (7 March) US President Donald Trump met with the families of the six other soldiers during a dignified transfer ritual at Dover Air Force Base.

Over the weekend, Trump attended the dignified transfer of six US soldiers who were killed in the Middle Eastern conflict (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

This is when the remains of American service members killed in action are returned to their home country.

The group of six lost their lives when an 'unmanned aircraft system' evaded air defences and hit a command centre in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on 1 March.

Pennington died on Sunday (8 March) from injuries sustained during an Iranian strike on the Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia, as reported by The Guardian.

As reported by the BBC, the six soldiers who died on the second day of the conflict have been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M Marzan, 54, Maj Jeffrey R O'Brien, 45, Capt Cody Khork, 35, Sgt Noah Tietjens, 42, Sgt Nicole Amor, 39, and Sgt Declan Coady, 20.

The US President said the families of the fallen soldiers had a request for him (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

"These men and women all bravely volunteered to defend our country, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten," US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said in a statement.

While Trump said it was a 'very sad situation' and promised to keep American war deaths 'to a minimum, as the families watched on during the transfer.

And speaking to reporters on Monday (9 March), the world leader was asked about how many US casualties he was willing to withstand, which prompted him to talk about the families of the fallen soldiers and what they said.

He said, "When you have conflicts like this, you always have death. And I was at Dover [Delaware] yesterday. I met the parents, and they were unbelievable people.

"They were unbelievable people, but they all had one thing in common. They said to me one thing, every single one: 'Finish the job, sir, please finish the job.'"

It comes as Trump yesterday told CBS News: "I think the war is very complete, pretty much," adding that the US was 'very far ahead of schedule'.

He told the publication: "[Iran has] no navy, no communications, they've got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones."

Asked whether he thought the war could wrap up soon, the President allegedly said, "Wrapping up is all in my mind, nobody else's."