Pentagon Iran war deaths tally drops by four amid counting dispute
The official Pentagon tally fell from 18 to 14 after four deaths were excluded, with officials disputing why the list changed.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
The Pentagon Iran war deaths count dropped from 18 to 14 on Thursday after four service members killed last weekend at bases in Jordan and Iraq were removed from the official tally, according to The New York Times.
The Times reported that the change followed a Trump administration decision to exclude those deaths from the Iran conflict count because they happened after President Donald Trump had declared a ceasefire in late April.
Rolling Stone reported that the Pentagon casualty website still showed 14 deaths as of Friday afternoon. The change came days after Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for service members killed during operations in the Middle East.
One of those honored was Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, who the Defense Department said was believed to have been killed in action on July 17 during an enemy attack at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, according to the photo caption information reported by AFP/Getty Images.
Why did the Pentagon death toll change?
The New York Times reported that the administration treated the four deaths as outside the Iran conflict because they occurred after the ceasefire declaration. A conflict casualty count is an official government tally tied to a specific operation or war, so a classification decision can determine whether a death appears in that number.
A military spokesperson told the Times that the website would be corrected to show the accurate casualty figures and blamed the drop on “temporary data disruptions.” The Times also reported that multiple military officials said the administration had requested the change.
The dispute lands as the administration faces questions over the war’s cost. Rolling Stone reported that Trump has compared the Iran conflict to Vietnam and other wars while arguing that the casualty count in the less than six-month-old conflict is lower than in wars that lasted years.
The Pentagon has acknowledged more than 100 U.S. casualties since July 7, according to Rolling Stone.
What has Trump said about the Iran conflict?
Rolling Stone reported that Trump has repeatedly said the war is nearly over. Hegseth has said Trump should be praised for starting the Iran war, according to Rolling Stone’s coverage of his Senate testimony.
This week, Trump also threatened Iran over attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. In a Truth Social post cited by Rolling Stone, he wrote that any time Iran fires at a ship in the strait using a missile, rocket, drone or other weapon, the United States would “bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT.”
TIME has reported that intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Rolling Stone noted that Trump’s threat was aimed at attacks on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for oil tankers.
The Pentagon’s public count remains the central point of dispute: four service members were removed from the Iran conflict list, the Times reported officials differed over why, and the website still reflected the lower number as of Friday afternoon, according to Rolling Stone.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.