“He’s a hero…I love that the military gave him a chance to do what he loves,” said the mother of Cody Khork, who died on the second day of the Iran-US war.
According to NBC News, Khork, 35, was one of 13 Americans killed in the US war with Iran, which began on February 28 of this year. He died on March 1 – the second day of the war – when a drone struck a port in Kuwait, the report added.
Khork died as a captain in the Army Reserve and was posthumously promoted to major, the report added.
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“He was a hero. I’m so proud of him…,” she told NBC News in her interview.
His mother told the media house that the military was a natural fit for Khork. His father was a Marine and grew up on military bases. He loved military life from “day one,” said his mother, Donna Burhans.
When Khork was growing up, his nickname was “Twig”.
“He was always around people in uniform, so from a young age he just loved it,” Donna Burhans recalled saying of the military. “I love that the military gave him a chance to do what he loves,” she told NBC.
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Faith in Trump
Burhans said she relies on her faith and the judgment of US President Donald Trump.
“Trump knows what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s doing everything the way it’s supposed to be done,” she told NBC. “I believe in him and in God,” she said.
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The report went on to say that she had a chance to speak with Trump last month at a so-called dignified transition ceremony in Dover, Delaware.
Khork’s remains and those of five other service members who died in Kuwait were flown home and removed from the plane in flag containers.
When Burhans told Trump to “get it over with”
In Dover, Burhans told Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that she did not want her son to die needlessly and that she hoped they would continue to prosecute the war.
“When he walked into the room, you could tell he was upset,” she said of Trump. “He had his head down. And he was just a normal, caring person. He wasn’t the president when he walked into the room. He was just there to tell us how sorry he was.”
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“I wanted him to know that I don’t blame him. I don’t blame anything that happened in my son’s death,” she said in the interview.
She credited Trump with taking military action against a U.S. enemy that has been a global threat for decades.
“It’s been a long time,” she said. “It should have been done a long time ago and Trump is the only man who can stand up and do it. He hates America,” she reportedly said.
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“I told him to finish it,” she added. “I said, ‘Go get them.’ That’s what my son signed up for.”
In a phone interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump spoke briefly about the families of fallen service members. “I feel so bad for those people,” he said.
The latest US-Iran war:
US and Iranian delegations are to hold peace talks in Pakistan on Saturday, reports claim.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Friday he hoped for a “positive” outcome as he left Washington for US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan.
“We will try to negotiate positively,” he told reporters before taking off from Joint Base Andrews.
“If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we are certainly willing to extend an open hand. If they try to play with us, then they will find that the negotiating team is not so receptive,” he said.
A senior Iranian lawmaker quoted by Iran International said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei set a condition that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf must lead negotiations with the US.
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Mahmoud Nabavian, the deputy speaker of the parliament, said on Friday: “Our conditions were communicated to the Pakistani side… and they said that Trump accepted them,” adding that the ceasefire and talks were decided by the Iranian leadership.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has extended visa-free travel to delegates and journalists from the participating countries of the Islamabad 2026 talks, i.e. Iran and the US. A Pakistani official clarified that the facility, extended for the duration of the talks, does not apply to third-country nationals.
In addition, US President Donald Trump appears to be questioning the effectiveness of the two-week ceasefire due to Iran’s continued stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, while Kuwait has accused Iran and its proxies of carrying out drone attacks despite the ceasefire, the Associated Press reported.
