The Pentagon’s website that notifies the public about military casualties and casualties now lists four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq in July under “Occupation Casualties” – separate from the 14 other service members killed during the war with Iran.
Another 14 appear on the website as having been injured in Operation Epic Fury, the Defense Department’s term for the conflict. At one point last week, the deaths of four service members also appeared on the list, but as of last Thursday, their names were no longer there, and the database said 14 were killed in the war with Iran, compared to 18.
The New York Times first reported on the missing numbers from the database and cited three sources who said it was because the four most recently executed members died after the Trump administration announced a freeze on firings in April.
But four service members were killed about a week after President Trump inform Congress with a letter saying that the ceasefire has ended and the war has 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 Pentagon’s chief spokesman, in a statement shared on X last Thursday, blamed “site errors in the Defense Casualty Analysis System” for the “temporary data disruption” and said that “the site’s anomalies are currently being resolved in cooperation with the Military Services.” Parnell in his statement criticized the New York Times for “collaborating with anonymous sources to push a story that is completely false.”
When the Pentagon first released the names of two of the three people killed in the Iranian airstrike in Jordan earlier this month, it initially listed them as casualties under Operation Inherent Resolve, the name of the multi-year mission targeting ISIS. Later, the Department of Defense amended the release to say service members died “on active duty overseas.”
Throughout the war with Iran, the Pentagon has been slow to provide information on casualties. After the New York Times reported earlier this week that dozens of soldiers had been injured in attacks in the Middle East, the Pentagon initially sent reporters questions about the casualties on its website — though it had not been updated for several days and did not count the latest deaths.
Defense officials have not briefed reporters on the Iran war since May, and have not commented on the classification of the deaths of the four service members.
CBS News first reported it and Parnell confirmed that almost 100 US service members have been injured since July 7. In a statement to X, he said that among the injured, 96% returned to work and most of the injuries experienced were “minor conflicts.” A mild concussion can often be a traumatic brain injury that varies in severity and can show symptoms some time after the initial injury.
He concluded that “further updates will be sent to the Defense Casualty Analysis System.”
As of Sunday, the site said 417 service members had been wounded in the war with Iran, down from the 482 counted earlier last week. Now, 207 service members are on the list of those injured in overseas operations.
