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U.S. Casualties in Iran War Rise as Military Strikes Begin Again

Despite a pause in hostilities during the rickety ceasefire U.S.-Iran ceasefire, the number of American casualties has ticked up to 423.

The number of U.S. casualties in the Iran War ticked higher on Tuesday, hours after American military forces conducted what U.S. Central Command called “self-defense strikes” in southern Iran. Official Pentagon statistics put the current casualty toll at 423, an increase of three wounded from the War Department’s last official tally issued on Friday.

The increase in casualties came as Iran’s supreme leader said the war had exposed the vulnerability of U.S. military bases.

The increase in casualties came as Iran’s supreme leader said the war had exposed the vulnerability of U.S. military bases.

The increase in casualties came as Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that the war had exposed the vulnerability of U.S. military bases across the Middle East and as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps threatened to respond to any U.S. strikes.

“The hands of time do not turn backward, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for American bases,” Khamenei said in his statement. “America, in addition to no longer having a safe place for aggression and military bases in the region, is moving further away from its former status day by day.”

The U.S. has been clinging to a rickety ceasefire with Iran for more than a month, as President Donald Trump — who previously threatened to commit genocide in that country — has oscillated between claims that a peace agreement is imminent and talk of renewed hostilities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that talks to end the war were continuing but that a peace agreement could take “a few days.” 

Reporting by The Intercept found that the Pentagon’s official tally of dead and wounded military personnel from the Iran War is a gross undercount, stemming from what one U.S. government official called a “casualty cover-up.” The Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, which tracks “deceased, wounded, ill or injured” service members for Congress and the president, is missing hundreds of known casualties.

“Casualty Cover-Up”: The Pentagon Is Hiding U.S. Losses Under Trump in the Middle East

On the day the ceasefire deal was struck between the Trump administration and Iran,........

© The Intercept