The change in the count of dead soldiers in Iran evidences Trump's nervousness
The Pentagon has created a new category to classify casualties after July 7th and thus divide the conflict into two
WashingtonThe casualties in the Iran war are becoming increasingly burdensome for the White House. US President Donald Trump still insists that he is "winning" the conflict, but recent changes in the Pentagon's casualty and injury count say otherwise. The last four soldiers killed in the conflict have been accounted for in other categories not linked to Operation Epic Fury, the name the president gave to the offensive. Technically, only fourteen of the eighteen casualties to date are now recognized as linked to the campaign.
The reaction of the Trump administration when last week the New York Times published that the last four soldier deaths in Iran had disappeared from the Department of Defense website speaks for itself: the Pentagon said it was a "temporary disruption of data." The deceased, however, continue to be excluded as casualties of Operation Epic Fury. Soldiers killed in Jordan by Iranian attacks have been added to those linked to Operation Inherent Resolution, which began in 2014 to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The other two have been directly added to a new group dubbed Maritime Operations Beyond, which is intended to record casualties "from July 7, 2026," just when the ceasefire was declared over.
The way the administration is managing and seemingly trying to whitewash the US soldiers in Iran has generated great rejection among veterans. "This doesn't change the reality for the military and their families: it's still the same war. What looks like a simple maneuver to save the face of an embarrassed Trump administration will only deepen opposition to the war within the armed forces," Mike Prysner, a veteran of the Iraq war and an activist for conscientious objection, warns ARA.
Prysner assures that since the conflict began at the end of February, his organization, known as the Center on Conscience and War, has been receiving requests from military personnel to refuse to participate in the Iranian conflict. He believes these changes in the count will further incentivize internal unrest: "A significant number of military personnel no longer want to be part of it, and now, in addition, they have been told that if they die in this conflict, they will not even be recognized as casualties of this war."
More unrest over the war
As the reality on the ground slips through his fingers, the Trump administration tries to pretend it controls the situation through figures. Precisely, the Pentagon has considered it opportune to implement the change now that the number of soldiers killed is approaching twenty and is beginning to distance itself from the thirteen US soldiers killed in the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021, an event that the Republican has always criticized then-Democratic President Joe Biden for.
The White House's politicization of the dead is becoming increasingly evident. The maneuver also occurs at a time when the unease over the war continues to grow among Americans, raises the grocery basket and the price of gasoline. Having to manage the front of a low military count that, as days go by, also inflates, is not the ideal scenario for Trump. Especially since from the beginning, the issue of losing American lives has been a red line for many of the tycoon's followers.
The creation of a new category for fallen soldiers is also an attempt to circumvent Congress's authority. Just as the first truce was agreed upon in April, the Trump administration was already reaching the time limit allowed for military operations without the legislature's permission. By law, the executive is obligated to withdraw troops if Congress does not approve after sixty days of campaigning.
Even in the first appearances before the parliamentary committee, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, insisted that the war powers act counter be stopped while the truce lasted. A ceasefire that, during the almost three months it has lasted, has been questioned by attacks between both sides. Now, having broken the cessation of hostilities, in theory the clock should restart where it stopped. But the White House insists that this is a second phase and that, therefore, the counter is reset to zero. Hence the creation of a second category in the Pentagon to count fallen soldiers from July 7th.