AT least 624 US military service members have been wounded since President Donald Trump ordered strikes against Iran in February, according to the Pentagon’s most recent update on 25 July, BBC News reported.
Among those wounded, 417 are attributed to Operation Epic Fury, while 207 are attributed to “Overseas Operations”.
The US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire in April and signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June, but attacks by both sides have continued throughout.
Revised casualty figures, unexplained changes to official records draw criticism over transparency
Last week, the Pentagon revised its figures on those injured and killed in the war, removing the names of four personnel who died in Operation Epic Fury and adding them to the death toll for Overseas Operations.
On the Pentagon’s Defence Analysis Casualty System, the death toll for Operation Epic Fury — the name given to the initial attack — was listed at 18 as late as Tuesday, along with 482 wounded, according to BBC News. At some point, four of those names were removed and, by Thursday, the death toll had been reduced to 14, it added.
The names of the four deceased soldiers now appear under Overseas Operations, which states that it measures “casualties starting 7 July 2026”. They are the only four deaths listed.
Undermining transparency
The unexplained and silent revision of casualty statistics — for both the wounded and the dead — was criticised as undermining transparency.
“The administration seems to have a real hard time being honest about what is going on — not just about casualties, but about the whole war in general,” said Lt Gen Ben Hodges, who commanded US forces in Europe when Trump first came to power.
In a post on X, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a frequent Trump critic, described splitting the conflict into categories as an “absurd ruse”.
On X, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell described the shifting figures as “temporary data disruptions”.
Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2026