The Pentagon lowered its official death toll for the Iran war to 14 from 18, stripping four service members killed over the weekend from its public casualty tracker. The Defense Casualty Analysis System website, which listed 18 deaths on Wednesday, now shows only fatalities that occurred in March.
Three military officials said the Trump administration removed the four names because their deaths followed a cease-fire declared by President Donald Trump in April. Acting press secretary Joel Valdez attributed the change to temporary data disruptions. Trump, who traveled to Dover Air Force Base to salute the remains of the four soldiers, used the higher figure of 18 at a separate event on Thursday.
Representative Adam Smith said Trump has not shared Iran war casualty statistics with Congress, and the Pentagon has not held a major briefing on the conflict since early May. Representative Thomas Massie suggested the exclusion stems from a claim that the war technically ended in June with a temporary cease-fire. The four removed soldiers were among a group whose remains were transferred to Dover in a formal ceremony Wednesday.