Pete Hegseth is facing mounting criticism after the Pentagon removed four soldiers who were killed last weekend from its official Iran war death toll, citing that their deaths occurred after Donald Trump’s April ceasefire.
As of Wednesday, the Pentagon’s published casualty count listed 18 American service members killed. By Thursday, that figure had been revised down to 14.
A Pentagon official attributed the change to “temporary data disruptions” on the military’s casualty website and said the issue would be corrected soon, according to the Washington Post.
The revision triggered an angry backlash from lawmakers online, including Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who called the apparent effort to obscure the true number of U.S. war deaths an “abomination.”
“Scrubbing the names of four American heroes killed in Jordan and Iraq – simply because their deaths came after Trump’s so-called ‘cease-fire’ – is a grotesque insult to their sacrifice and a deliberate attempt to whitewash the true cost of this endless war,” one X user wrote as outrage spread over the change.
Hegseth and Trump have repeatedly insisted during the conflict that Iran’s military capabilities have been destroyed and that U.S. forces have complete control of the air and sea.
Iran, however, has continued firing waves of ballistic missiles and suicide drones in recent weeks, including attacks on Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base last weekend that killed three soldiers.
Since fighting resumed earlier this month, nearly 100 U.S. troops have been wounded.
Pete Hegseth is under fire after the Pentagon struck four soldiers killed last weekend from its Iran war death toll because they died after Donald Trump’s April ceasefire
Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, was one of three US service members killed at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base on Friday
Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, and First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, were killed when Iranian forces attacked the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on Friday
Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, a 30-year-old father from North Carolina, was killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone
The four soldiers struck from the list are 1st Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Hawaii; Sergeant Angel S Rampersad, 28, of New York; and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Texas, who were killed in Iranian strikes in Jordan.
Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of North Carolina, was also removed from the list after dying in Iraq while disposing of a downed Iranian drone.
More than 400 US troops have been wounded in the Iran war, according to the Pentagon’s own casualty system, and officials have admitted the true figure is higher.
The Defense Department is required by law to report exact troop deaths but not injuries.
Trump officials have previously argued that revealing the toll of successful Iranian strikes on US bases would hand Tehran valuable intelligence and compromise operational security.
‘No matter how many strikes we launch, it cannot erase the fact that Iran has figured out how to hide its missiles and drones, and quickly recover from the damage we do,’ Senator Murphy wrote on X.
‘After 145 days of war, the majority of Iran’s missile sites on the Strait are operational. A forever war.’
Trump and Hegseth honoring Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton on Wednesday
Even some Republican lawmakers have begun to break away from Trump’s military campaign against the regime, airing their doubts both privately and in public.
Hegseth was grilled by Democrats and Republicans alike at a contentious Senate hearing on Tuesday as he pleaded for billions in emergency Pentagon funding.
The war has cost the Pentagon $37.5 billion in the last few months. One GOP senator told Hegseth that Congress and the public need ‘straighter answers’ from the military.
