You have been granted access, use your keyboard to continue reading. In an unannounced change, the Defense Department is now acknowledging troops who died or were wounded in support roles. U.S. officials at a dignified transfer for Army soldiers killed in action while deployed to Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan, in July.
The Pentagon has raised the number of U.S. service members killed and wounded during operations related to the Iran war.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times The Pentagon has again quietly raised the number of U.S. service members killed and wounded during operations related to the Iran war amid widening criticism over the lack of transparency about the conflict’s human and operational costs. The military now is reporting that 21 U.S. service members have been killed, from 18, and 865 wounded, up by 98 since August. The changes were posted Friday evening to the Defense Casualty Analysis System website, which offers a detailed breakdown of casualties by branch of service, rank, race and ethnicity.
The cause of the increased casualty numbers is not completely clear, since the hostilities between the United States and Iran have largely been in a lull for many weeks. The two House members had demanded an explanation from the Pentagon after the House Armed Services Committee discovered “a discrepancy in the Pentagon’s reporting of casualty numbers” and brought it to the White House’s attention. The Pentagon, under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has deliberately withheld casualty numbers from the public, while also attacking reporters for publishing information on them. **Want to stay updated on what’s happening in the Middle East?** , and we’ll send our latest coverage to your inbox.
In response to reporting by The Washington Post in September that more U.S. troops had died in support of the Iran war than the Pentagon had acknowledged, Mr. Hegseth took to social media to say, “This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE.” The defense secretary also said The Post is “worse than Iranian state media.” Mr.
Hegseth’s office did not immediately respond to a request on Saturday for comment regarding the updated casualty numbers. The increase was reported earlier on Saturday by The Post. On July 20, the Pentagon added 100 casualties to the war’s tally without explanation.
Three days later, the department lowered the number of troops killed during the war, which Mr. Hegseth calls Operation Epic Fury, from 18 to 14 — claiming the discrepancy was caused by “temporary data disruptions.” Later that month, the Defense Department took the unusual step of claiming that Operation Epic Fury ended with President Trump’s cease-fire announcement in June, and any further deaths and injuries would be accounted for as part of “overseas operations.” The new casualty numbers come as the war with Iran continues to drag on. Critics have also said the Pentagon has not fully acknowledged the damage done to U.S. bases in the Middle East, which defense officials acknowledge may be abandoned rather than repaired.
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