Pentagon Updates Iran War Casualty Data Amid Transparency Scrutiny

The United States Department of Defence (Pentagon) updated its war casualty database on Saturday, recording the addition of more than 140 wounded soldiers and restoring data on four troops killed in Iranian attacks last week. The move comes amid intensifying public scrutiny regarding the transparency of war casualty figures. The Pentagon’s Defence Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) has now also added a new tracking category called ‘Foreign Operations’ for fatalities and injuries counted ‘from 7 July.’ Based on the Pentagon’s new data combined with the total update for Operation Inherent Resolve, a total of 18 soldiers have been killed and 624 others wounded since the US launched the war against Iran on 28 February. The number of wounded has surged significantly from the previous high of 482. The Pentagon previously faced sharp criticism from the media and lawmakers last week when the number of fatalities and injuries in the DCAS system suddenly dropped amid ongoing Iranian attacks. Twelve Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday demanding an explanation for the data change. Acting Department of Defence Press Secretary Joel Valdez denied any manipulation, stating the drop in numbers was caused by a temporary technical glitch on the DCAS website. Besides the inclusion of the 7 July start date, the new ‘Foreign Operations’ category on the DCAS site does not include specific details or explicitly name the conflict in which the casualties occurred. The category contains a list of fallen soldiers’ names, including three Army soldiers killed in Jordan by an Iranian attack and a soldier killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone. The 7 July date coincides with President Donald Trump’s claim regarding the start of a new conflict with Iran in the War Powers notification the administration sent to Congress earlier this month. Under the War Powers Act of 1973, the president must end military operations within 60 days unless Congress authorises them. The Trump administration has argued that a ceasefire in April stopped the ‘countdown clock’ of that rule as of 1 May. Lawmakers from both parties have rejected the administration’s interpretation of the War Powers deadline. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed the administration’s view during a White House press conference in May. ‘The law is unconstitutional, 100%,’ Rubio asserted. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voiced her concerns to Hegseth during a hearing on 21 July regarding the administration’s move, which she deemed a distortion of the rules. ‘The claim essentially allows the president to turn off the War Powers countdown clock precisely when it becomes legally inconvenient … circumventing the congressional authorisation required by the Constitution and intended by the War Powers (Act),’ Murkowski stated.