Pentagon lowers official Iran war death toll, omitting four killed this month
The Pentagon lowered its official death toll for the Iran war to 14 from 18 in the space of a day, after the Trump administration removed four service...
Key points
- The Pentagon lowered its official death toll for the Iran war to 14 from 18 in the space of a day, after the Trump administration removed four service members killed this month from the count, according to the defense casualty analysis system.
- The Pentagon's casualty database showed seven of the 14 total deaths were classified as "hostile." The New York Times reported the change in count earlier.
- Three military officials told the Times that the four service members killed this past weekend — three in Jordan and one in northern Iraq — were struck from the list because their deaths came after President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire in April.
- The acting press secretary for the Pentagon, Joel Valdez, attributed the change to "temporary data disruptions" on the department's casualty website that he said would be fixed quickly, according to the Times.
What happened
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The Pentagon lowered its official death toll for the Iran war to 14 from 18 in the space of a day, after the Trump administration removed four service members killed this month from the count, according to the defense casualty analysis system. The Pentagon's casualty database showed seven of the 14 total deaths were classified as "hostile." The New York Times reported the change in count earlier. Three military officials told the Times that the four service members killed this past weekend — three in Jordan and one in northern Iraq — were struck from the list because their deaths came after President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire in April. The acting press secretary for the Pentagon, Joel Valdez, attributed the change to "temporary data disruptions" on the department's casualty website that he said would be fixed quickly, according to the Times. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said on Monday that Trump has not shared Iran war casualty statistics with Congress and that "there has been no transparency from the President or the Pentagon about the full extent of equipment losses and casualty statistics." The Pentagon has released little on U.S. At an event on Thursday, he said, "I had a very...