Pentagon’s official Iran war death toll no longer lists 4 soldiers killed in new round of fighting

Washington—— Four U.S. troops killed period start fighting again The dispute between the United States and Iran in recent weeks is no longer included in the Iran war death toll in the Pentagon’s official casualty toll, but has been placed in a new, separate category.

This raises questions about the correct calculation Impact on U.S. military personnel As the Trump administration has done Attacks on Iran escalate aims to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while giving little indication of how it intends to end the conflict Unpopular with many Americans.

Pentagon officials have repeatedly pointed to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the ultimate source of casualties in conflicts, which removed four fallen soldiers and dozens of wounded soldiers. iran is Last week’s statistics.

A new category called “Overseas Operations” appeared on the system’s website Sunday, listing the names of four Army fatalities and 207 wounded. It was unclear whether all of the casualties were injured in the conflict in Iran.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, referred questions to the Pentagon, which did not immediately respond.

Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said Thursday that the drop in casualty figures in online systems was not an attempt to mask the war’s growing toll but was the result of “anomalies” and “temporary data outages” that were being addressed “immediately.”

As of Tuesday, the website put the official war death toll at 18 dead and 482 wounded.

This appears to reflect the fact that despite a temporary ceasefire signed last month, four soldiers have been killed since fighting resumed – three of them at a Jordanian base attacked by Iran on July 17 Ballistic missiles and dronesa day later in Iraq Controlled explosion of Iranian drone.

Adding to the confusion, when the Pentagon announced the two deaths in Jordan, it said the troops were supporting the U.S. mission against the Islamic State group. The other two were announced in the press release simply to support overseas operations.

President Donald Trump has confirmed the total, writing truth social post On Tuesday, the “Iranian military conflict” claimed the lives of 18 people.

By Wednesday, the Pentagon’s Iran war numbers fell back to 14 dead and 420 wounded. However, a U.S. official told The Associated Press at the time that the actual number of wounded in the war was actually well over 500.

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, claimed on social media that day that the reported data drop was a “temporary data outage.”

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran, and 14 soldiers died in the first wave of fighting. Washington and Tehran agree to ceasefire April then Sign tentative agreement The war ended in mid-June.

This is short-lived. On July 7, Iran attacked three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz as they were transiting along the U.S. military-supervised shipping lane off the coast of Oman. U.S. military Strike launched in response to attacks On board vessels along major energy transport corridors. Trump soon announced The ceasefire has ended.

The Pentagon system’s new “overseas operations” category says it will begin counting casualties on July 7.

Since then, the U.S. and Iran have frequently exchanged fire for control of the vital waterway, with the U.S. striking Iranian targets nightly for nearly two weeks and Tehran retaliating against neighboring countries where U.S. troops are stationed. There have been two consecutive nights without a strike as mediators push for diplomacy.

Since the start of new hostilities, the Pentagon has provided even less information on military strategy and casualties than during the first phase of the conflict. The Pentagon has not held a news conference on the war since early May, and officials at U.S. Central Command have stopped providing updates to reporters on casualties.

Pentagon officials like Valdez and Parnell maintain that the DCAS website demonstrates a commitment to transparency about the war’s toll.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.