▶ Watch Video: Pentagon under fire for dropping tally of troops killed in Iran from 18 to 14
The Pentagon website that informs the public about the dead and wounded in military conflicts now lists four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq in July under “Overseas Operations Casualties” — separate from 14 other service members who have been killed during the war with Iran.
The other 14 appear in the database as casualties of Operation Epic Fury, the Defense Department’s name for the conflict. At one point last week, the four service members’ deaths also appeared on that list, but by last Thursday, their names no longer appeared there, and the database said that 14 were killed in the war with Iran, as opposed to 18.
The New York Times first reported the database’s missing numbers and cited three sources who said it was because the four service members who were most recently killed died after the Trump administration had declared a ceasefire in April.
But the four service members were killed about a week after President Trump notified Congress by letter that the ceasefire was over and military action had resumed on July 7. The four who died are 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton.
Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, in a statement shared on X last Thursday, blamed “site errors on the Defense Casualty Analysis System” on “a temporary data disruption” and said the “site anomalies are currently being resolved in coordination with the Military Services.” Parnell in his statement slammed the New York Times for “colluding with anonymous sources to push a completely fake story.”
When the Pentagon first released the names of two of the three killed in an Iranian attack in Jordan earlier this month, it initially classified them as deaths under Operation Inherent Resolve, the name for the years-long mission targeting ISIS. Later, the Defense Department amended the releases to say the service members had died in “overseas operations.”
Throughout the war with Iran, the Pentagon has been slow to provide information about injuries. After the New York Times reported earlier this week that dozens of troops had been injured in attacks in the Middle East, the Pentagon initially referred reporters with questions on the wounded to the website — even though it had not been updated in several days and did not account for the recent deaths.
Defense officials have not briefed reporters on the Iran war since May, and they have not commented on the categorization of the deaths of the four service members.
CBS News first reported and Parnell confirmed that nearly 100 U.S. service members had been injured since July 7. In a statement on X, he said that among those injured, 96% had returned to duty and the vast majority of injuries experienced “were minor concussions.” Minor concussions can often be traumatic brain injuries that vary in severity and can display symptoms some time after the initial injury.
He concluded by saying that “further updates will be posted on the Defense Casualty Analysis System.”
As of Sunday, the site said 417 service members have been wounded in the war with Iran, which is dozens fewer than the 482 it listed early last week. Now, 207 service members are listed as having been wounded in Overseas Operations.