Helene Cooper

The gathering comes as the defense secretary is facing precarious times as the public face of the Trump administration’s unpopular war against Iran.

The president vacillated but decided on Sunday not to join Saudi Arabia, for now, in joint strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. But he also needs the kingdom’s cooperation in his war against Iran.

The latest round of fighting may result in reports of traumatic brain injuries among American service members, officials warned.

American forces were said to have hit multiple vessels in response to Iranian attempts to hit a U.S. warship.

The defense secretary’s cuts, which have hit about 10 percent of the military’s top officers, are dividing the Pentagon, officials said.

The resignation of Daniel P. Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, had been expected but comes at a tumultuous time for the service.

The turmoil has left a leadership vacuum in the Army at a moment when it is trying to find ways to defend troops against the threat posed by cheap drones.

The leadership vacuum comes as the Army is trying to adapt to a new kind of war dominated by deadly drones.

President Trump’s decision to curtail the military exercises came as allies question the U.S. commitment to longstanding alliances.

In a social media post, the president scolded South Korea for not helping denuclearize Iran, and also praised North Korea and its leader.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the difficulty of the carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment but said mental health issues were lower than on other vessels.

The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for nearly nine months. Members of Congress are worried about the crew’s well-being.

The Iranian strikes that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan show how quickly Iran’s war-fighting skills have evolved, as the Pentagon runs low on interceptors.

With Iran flexing its might, President Trump appears to be weighing military options again, after rejecting plans to escalate.

The changes separated the casualty numbers into two separate web pages, potentially making it more difficult to tally the war’s full toll.

Three military officials and a Pentagon spokesman gave conflicting explanations for why the number of Americans killed in the Iran war had changed.