▶ 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 different military conflicts removed four deaths from the war with Iran this week, showing that 14 service members have died, instead of the 18 who have been killed since the war began in February.
Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, in a statement shared on X on Thursday, said that “the site errors on the Defense Casualty Analysis System were due to a temporary data disruption” and the “site anomalies are currently being resolved in coordination with the Military Services.”
The site, which was last updated on July 22, on Friday still showed only 14 killed in the conflict.
According to the Congressional Research Service, when an active-duty service member dies, the service “is required to complete a form (DD 1300 Report of Casualty) that includes circumstances related to death,” and that information is then entered into the Defense Casualty database.
The New York Times first reported the database’s missing numbers Thursday and cited three sources who said it was because the most recent four service members who were killed in Jordan and Iraq last week died after the Trump administration declared a ceasefire in April. But the four service members were killed about one week after President Trump notified Congress in a letter on July 10 that the ceasefire had ended and military action had resumed on July 7.
Deaths in the war with Iran have been listed on the website under Operation Epic Fury, the name the Pentagon gave to the war when it began in February.
When the Pentagon released the names of two of three killed in an Iranian attack in Jordan last week, it initially classified them as deaths under Operation Inherent Resolve, the name for the mission targeting ISIS. It later amended the releases to say the service members had died in “overseas operations.”
Earlier this week, the four service members’ deaths were listed under Operation Epic Fury. On Thursday, however, their names no longer appeared there.
There is another discrepancy, too. The “names of the fallen” under the operation only lists the names of 13 of the deceased service members, rather than 14. CBS News has reached out to the Navy, which has a “pending death” on the site in July. If confirmed, that would bring the death total to 14. There are no Navy service members currently listed among the names of the fallen under Epic Fury. The Navy identified Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards as missing following a helicopter’s emergency landing in the Arabian Sea on July 1.
Parnell in his statement on X blamed the removals on data disruptions and site anomalies. He criticized the New York Times for “colluding with anonymous sources to push a completely fake story.”
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.
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 ended his statement by saying “further updates will be posted on the Defense Casualty Analysis System.”
As of Friday, the site said 420 service members have been wounded in the war with Iran, which is dozens fewer than the 482 it listed earlier this week. A U.S. official told CBS News even that higher number would not accurately reflect the latest count of service members injured since the war began.
