The Pentagon has raised its official death toll for American military personnel linked to operations against Iran to 21, while reporting 865 wounded service members. The revised figures include two additional deaths that were not previously counted in the Pentagon's official Iran was casualty tally.
The two additional deaths are those of Army National Guard Major Sorffly Davius, who died in Kuwait on March 6 after experiencing a medical emergency while deployed at Camp Buehring, and an unidentified Navy service member who died by suicide in September. Both the deaths were classified as non-combat fatalities.
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The Pentagon's latest casualty figures show 21 US service members killed and 865 wounded in the Iran conflict, with the updated data renewing scrutiny of how the military is tracking casualties across different operations.
Figures from the Defence Casualty Analysis System (DCAS), updated on Friday, list 15 deaths and 417 wounded under Operation Epic Fury, launched on February 28 when US and Israeli forces began strikes against Iran. A separate category for overseas operations records six deaths and 448 wounded, taking the combined toll to 21 killed and 865 injured.
The separate classifications have drawn attention after earlier reporting by The Washington Post highlighted discrepancies between publicly available casualty figures and information available to US officials. The Pentagon's database has faced questions over how casualties are recorded following changes to its operational categories, including the introduction of the overseas operations designation.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had rejected the newspaper's account in a post on X, describing it as false.
The revised figures were welcomed by Democratic lawmakers Adam Smith of Washington and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, senior members of the House Armed Services Committee. They criticised the Pentagon's handling of casualty reporting and called for accountability from its leadership.
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