Pentagon Revises US Soldier Death Toll in Iran Conflict Amid Controversy

Washington DC. A new controversy has arisen regarding the official list of soldiers killed in the Iran war released by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon). According to The New York Times, the list mentioned the deaths of 18 US soldiers as of Wednesday. However, on Thursday, that number was reduced to 14.

The Pentagon's Defense Casualty Analysis System website still shows that only 14 American soldiers have been killed in the Iran war under Operation Epic Fury. However, the Pentagon separately announced through a press release the information that the bodies of four soldiers killed last week were brought to America.

According to The New York Times, three of the four soldiers removed from the list died in an attack by Iran on a US military base in Jordan last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The fourth soldier died while neutralizing an Iranian drone at Erbil airport in Iraq.

According to three US military officials who spoke to The New York Times, the decision to remove soldiers who died after President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire in April from the official list of the Iran war was made. However, a Pentagon spokesperson claimed that the reduction in the number of soldiers was due to temporary statistical issues and would be corrected soon.

This controversy surfaced the day after Trump paid tribute to the bodies of those four soldiers at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware last Wednesday. Trump has been claiming that the number of US soldiers killed in the Iran war is very low compared to long wars like Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Trump mentioned in his social media that 18 US soldiers had died in the Iran war and published a chart comparing the death tolls of previous wars.

In that post, he also wrote the message, 'These are the real facts, report this news.' Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump called those soldiers great American heroes while en route to Dover. He claimed that the war was necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and that the fallen soldiers also believed in this. However, US intelligence agencies have been assessing that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Trump claimed that the Iran war had only lasted four months and that 18 soldiers had died, while stating that two hundred thousand US soldiers had been killed in the Vietnam War. However, according to historical facts, 58,220 US soldiers died in the Vietnam War. 

Meanwhile, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has accused the Pentagon of trying to present soldiers killed after the ceasefire as part of a separate war. According to him, the Trump administration is trying to present statistics by dividing the Iran war into two parts. He also accused the operation of being illegal as it has been conducted for more than 90 days without congressional approval.