New Delhi: The Pentagon has changed how it reports American military casualties from the war with Iran, placing deaths and injuries recorded since fighting resumed 7 July on a separate webpage from those attributed to the conflict that began in February.
The revised accounting system means that determining the war’s full human toll now requires combining figures from two different Defense Department webpages.
Under the new system, the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System lists casualties from the initial phase of the conflict under ‘Operation Epic Fury’, while those recorded from 7 July appear under a category titled “overseas operations casualties”.
The change reflects US President Donald Trump’s position that the renewed hostilities constitute a separate conflict rather than a continuation of the war launched alongside Israel in late February.
The altered reporting system comes amid a broader conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran that began 28 February. A ceasefire negotiated under a 17 June MoU began to unravel 7 July, with Trump declaring 8 July that he believed the agreement was “over” as hostilities resumed. Trump formally notified Congress on 10 July that hostilities with Iran had resumed.
The Pentagon Sunday also raised the number of US service members wounded since 7 July to 207—which is 142 more than previously reported. This brings the total number wounded to 624.
The official toll now stands at 18, including four service members killed after the ceasefire faltered and fighting escalated in early July.
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Casualty count lowered, then divided
The Pentagon’s casualty database Wednesday reported that 18 American service members had been killed during the war with Iran. By Thursday, however, the Defense Department had lowered the Operation Epic Fury toll to 14 after removing four American service members killed in early July during attacks on US military bases in Jordan and Iraq.
Pentagon acting press secretary Joel Valdez Thursday attributed the change to “temporary data disruptions” affecting the website and indicated that the figures would soon be corrected.
As of Saturday morning, however, the Pentagon’s Operation Epic Fury webpage continued to list only 14 service members killed.
The New York Times reported that military officials had said the four deaths should not be included under Operation Epic Fury because they occurred after a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran had taken effect. This offered a classification-based explanation for the change, distinct from Valdez’s public description of it as a temporary website disturbance.
On Sunday, the Pentagon added the separate category titled “overseas operations casualties”, listing the four additional deaths with the note: “Overseas operations casualties starting July 7, 2026.”
The Operation Epic Fury page continued to record 14 deaths, while the newly added category accounted for the remaining four.
The new arrangement does not place all 18 deaths under a single category, meaning that the complete toll must add the 14 deaths attributed to Operation Epic Fury to the four recorded under ‘overseas operations’.
The revised numbers have also contradicted earlier statements by Pentagon officials. Sean Parnell, the department’s chief spokesperson, said last week that fewer than 100 US troops had been injured since 7 July.
Rejecting allegations last week that the Pentagon withheld casualty information, Parnell said: “Claims of concealment are fabrications meant to further distress the American people in the wake of three service members killed in action.”
The Pentagon has faced questions over its failure to immediately disclose casualties from several Iranian attacks on US bases in West Asia. Three strikes in the week preceding an attack that killed three soldiers in Jordan reportedly left dozens of other personnel injured.
Amid the mounting criticism, a group of Democratic senators Thursday sent a letter to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seeking a “comprehensive accounting” of the number of service members killed or wounded.
“The American people, Congress, service members and their families are entitled to a full and accurate accounting of the human costs of war. The information currently available to the public suggests that the Department has not consistently provided timely and comprehensive public casualty reporting throughout the conflict,” the senators wrote.
Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a US President must terminate military operations within 60 days unless Congress authorises their continuation. The House of Representatives Thursday voted for a second time to direct Trump to end the Iran war or seek explicit congressional approval—a sign of growing bipartisan unease over the continued conflict.
Kyra Menon is an intern with ThePrint
(Edited by Tony Rai)