The U.S. Pentagon has once again increased the number of American casualties during military operations against Iran. The latest data shows that since the U.S. launched military actions against Iran at the end of February this year, 21 American soldiers have died and 865 have been injured. This revision also brings renewed attention to the controversy surrounding the Pentagon’s previous claims of underreporting casualties.
According to the Washington Post and Associated Press reports on October 10, the Pentagon updated the data in its Department of Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) on the evening of the 9th, including two American soldiers who were previously not counted as deaths. Pentagon officials stated that both deaths occurred during previous military operations, and these are not new combat deaths.
New members include Sorffly Davius, a 46-year-old U.S. Army National Guard major. He died of an unexpected medical emergency during his deployment in Kuwait on March 6. Another new member is a U.S. Navy personnel who died in September. According to reports by The Washington Post citing U.S. officials, the cause of death was suicide, and his identity has not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon also recorded the death of another US soldier. Devin A. Seibel, 26 years old, died in an training accident in Iraq in May this year. However, this incident was classified as part of the military operation to combat extremist groups such as ISIS, and thus does not count towards the 21 deaths reported in operations against Iran.
This means that since the United States launched military actions against Iran on February 28, at least 22 American soldiers have died in the Middle East. Of these 22 deaths, 21 were counted by the Pentagon as related to the operations against Iran.
Another reason that has drawn attention to this revision is that the Pentagon has previously adjusted relevant casualty figures multiple times, which has led to questions from the outside world.
The Washington Post reported in September that Pentagon databases showed lower US military casualties than actual numbers. Defense Secretary Hodge then denied the report on social media platform X, calling it false.
However, the Pentagon continued to inflate the number of casualties. By late September, the number of injuries in the official database had risen to 861, and this latest count increased to 865.
According to reports, the Pentagon adjusted its casualty statistics in July this year, moving some US military casualties out of the category for military operations against Iran and into other categories such as ‘Overseas Operations’. This change makes it difficult for the outside world to directly understand the total losses of US personnel caused by the conflict.
In response to doubts, the Pentagon stated that it is further revising its casualty statistics system and will add a new category for processing events that have not yet been confirmed. The Department of Defense also emphasized its commitment to transparent and accurate reporting of all military casualties.
American Democratic lawmakers are dissatisfied with this explanation. Adam Smith, a senior Democrat on the House Committee on Military Affairs, and Congresswoman Kris Horhan issued a statement on the 10th, stating that such a significant statistical error is unacceptable, and criticized the Pentagon for not correcting the relevant data until Congress intervened.
According to the Associated Press, the increase in deaths reported by the Pentagon does not indicate new combat casualties. However, disputes over the method used for calculating casualties continue to keep attention focused on the actual human cost of US military operations in Iran.
