🔻The U.S. Department of Defense’s decision to separate casualties from the most recent round of clashes in Iran from the previous one has prompted objections from some politicians and former military officials and has faced criticism from the media.

On July 22, U.S. President Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, witnessed the transfer of the bodies of four American servicemembers at Dover Air Force Base, where the remains were removed by military aircraft in flag-draped coffins.

One day later, the four people—who had been killed in Jordan and Iraq after a renewed escalation of clashes with Iran in July—were removed from the official casualty figures for “Operation Earnest Rage,” and the number of fatalities from the war with Iran decreased from 18 to 14.

At first, the Pentagon said this change was due to a “temporary disruption in the data.”

In this new categorization, 207 wounded were also recorded; 142 more than the figure that had previously been announced for the period after July 7.

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