The U.S. military revealed that an additional 60 service members have been injured in the Iran war, lifting the official toll to 776 troops wounded or killed.
asserted
members → reveal → troops
Some 345 of these casualties have occurred since July 7, after a second ceasefire imploded.
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ceasefire → occur → July
As the numbers of dead and wounded troops have recently mounted, the Pentagon has quietly been seeking casualty and mortuary services, according to government contracting documents analyzed by The Intercept.
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Pentagon → wound → Intercept
The increase of 60 wounded last week was called “an accounting trick,” by one U.S. government official who accused the Pentagon of “slow-walking” the total for weeks.
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who → wound → weeks
“They wanted the heat on them to slow down after the really devastating attacks,” that source told The Intercept, referencing airstrikes on U.S. bases last month that exposed the vulnerability of U.S. troops to Iranian attacks.
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that → want → attacks
The office of self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including when and where the injuries occurred.
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injuries → style → comment
Since the beginning of the Trump administration’s war with Iran, Hegseth’s department has posted the official count of casualties on the website of the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, which tracks “deceased, wounded, ill or injured” service members for Congress and the White House.
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which → post → Congress
Casualties since July 7 are now counted separately on a webpage with a generic title: “Overseas Operations.”
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Casualties → count → title
Combined with totals for Operation Epic Fury — the military’s official designation for the initial months of the Iran war — 18 service members have died and 758 have been wounded since the U.S. launched the war against Iran on February 28, according to DCAS.
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U.S. → combine → DCAS
This official total of dead and wounded personnel, as documented over months of reporting by The Intercept, has been a gross undercount, stemming from what that same official previously called a “casualty cover-up.”
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official → wound → what
In the face of the increasing number of dead and wounded troops, the military has been seeking a range of services related to personnel who are killed or wounded, according to new contracting documents analyzed by The Intercept.
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who → increase → Intercept
While the military regularly awards such contracts, the commands involved have not replied to questions concerning the possible relationship to the current conflict.
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commands → award → conflict
On Friday, for example, the Air Force announced it awarded a new contract for a full range of mortuary services at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.
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it → announce → Georgia
This includes transportation and refrigeration of remains, embalming, dressing, casketing or cremation, as well as funeral services.
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This → include → remains
Last week, the Air Force also began looking into local firms that could fulfill a wide-ranging contract — including “mortuary services” — at Italy’s Aviano Air Base, a key hub for the war with Iran.
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that → begin → Iran
The public affairs offices at Robins Air Base and Aviano Air Base did not return requests for comment prior to publication.
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offices → return → publication
Last week, the Army also announced it “desires to procure” casualty administrative support, including casualty case management services, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, for the Army’s Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Division.
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it → announce → Division
Over 90 percent of the latest casualties are Army soldiers, and its storied Fort Knox base has been intimately involved in the conflict with Iran.
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base → involve → Iran
The body of 26-year-old Sgt. Benjamin Pennington — who died of injuries resulting from an Iranian strike on a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia in March and was the first Kentuckian to die in the war — was sent home via Godman Army Airfield at Fort Knox.
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who → die → Knox
Six soldiers killed in an Iranian strike in Kuwait that same month were operating under the 1st Theater Sustainment Command which is headquartered at the base.
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which → kill → base
Fort Knox did not respond to a request for comment and further information about the contract and the losses from the war prior to publication.
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Knox → respond → publication
The recent casualty spike resulted from Iranian attacks on around 10 U.S. outposts across the Middle East since July 9, according to a second U.S. official who previously spoke to The Intercept.
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who → result → Intercept
Iran’s military managed to overwhelm U.S. air defense systems using a mix of attack drones and advanced ballistic missiles, despite months of claims by President Donald Trump and Hegseth that Iran’s military was annihilated.
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military → manage → Trump
Last month, the tally of wounded personnel fluctuated by the day in the wake of increased Iranian attacks.
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tally → wound → attacks
On July 21, the casualty count on DCAS for Operation Epic Fury stood at 500.
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count → stand → 500
Now, it has shrunk to 431.
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it → shrink → 431
For months, The Intercept found anomalies with the counts offered on the DCAS website.
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Intercept → find → website
On April 21, for example, the number of wounded-in-action troops declined by 15 without public acknowledgment by the War Department.
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number → wound → Department
Despite repeated questions for months, the Pentagon has not commented on the disparities in its casualty count.
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Pentagon → repeat → count
Prior reporting by The Intercept also found DCAS is missing hundreds of wounded or dead personnel from the Iran war.
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DCAS → find → war
The Pentagon’s list of the names of the dead is still missing Maj. Sorffly Davius, a signals and communication officer with the New York Army National Guard who was assigned to the headquarters of the 42nd Infantry Division and reportedly died while on duty in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 6.
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who → miss → March
Davius’s death was widely acknowledged even as it was excluded from the official count.
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it → acknowledge → count
Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for example, recognized Davius while “honoring our fallen.”
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Caine → recognize → fallen
While DCAS provides a running tally of “non-hostile” deaths — meaning those who died from accidents or by illness — it doesn’t include “non-hostile” injuries.
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it → provide → injuries
The DCAS figures for Epic Fury show that 65 Navy personnel were wounded in action.
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personnel → show → action
Missing, however, are the more than 200 sailors treated for smoke inhalation or lacerations due to a March 12 fire that raged aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford
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that → miss → Ford
The aircraft carrier had been conducting round-the-clock flight operations to, Caine said, “project combat power” in the Middle East.
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Caine → conduct → East
CNN was the first to report a significant increase in wounded troops last week.
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CNN → report → troops
The World Health Organization puts the Iranian casualty toll at an estimated 37,181, including 3,375 deaths.
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Organization → put → deaths
Iranian state and semi-official media reported similar figures — just under 3,500 killed by U.S.-Israeli air strikes.
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media → report → strikes
…and 36 more, not listed.
