Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is facing accusations that the Pentagon concealed injuries suffered by eight US service members during a previously undisclosed mission aboard a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian cruise missile struck a “maritime vessel” carrying at least eight American troops—seven enlisted personnel and one officer—during the September 14 operation, three anonymous US officials told NBC News.
The officials declined to identify the vessel’s name, type or flag. They confirmed that it was not a US Navy ship.
The Marines aboard the vessel were members of a battalion landing team. Their injuries included smoke inhalation, possible traumatic brain injuries and other concussion-like symptoms, such as headaches, according to the officials.
None of the injuries was considered serious, and all eight service members returned to duty soon after the Iranian missile strike.
The Pentagon did not immediately disclose that US troops had been injured in the attack.
The service members were not added to the Department of War’s Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, until roughly 10 days later, according to the report.
Neither the Pentagon nor US Central Command has publicly acknowledged the September 14 mission, which had not been reported before NBC News revealed the incident.
Eight US service members were injured when an Iranian missile struck a vessel carrying them in the Strait of Hormuz. The ship was not a US Navy vessel, according to three American officials who spoke to NBC News
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has faced accusations that he concealed the full casualty toll from the US war with Iran
The eight injured Marines returned to duty shortly after the attack. Their reported injuries included smoke inhalation and possible traumatic brain injuries
The revelation has intensified questions about how the Pentagon is tracking and reporting US military casualties during the Iran war.
The latest DCAS figures list 861 US service members as wounded and 19 as killed in the conflict.
During the summer, the Pentagon reduced its reported casualty figures after reclassifying some deaths and injuries, fueling further concerns about transparency.
One official told NBC News that the reporting delay may have occurred because the service members did not immediately enter details of the incidents into the DCAS database.
DCAS does not identify individual soldiers or provide details about when, where or how troops were injured or killed.
Several Democratic lawmakers have accused Hegseth of concealing the true number of casualties. Congressman Pat Ryan of New York has described delays in DCAS reporting as a “blatant, unprecedented cover-up.”
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee also sent Hegseth a letter alleging that the Pentagon was obscuring the number of casualties connected to the Iran war.
The report sparked anger among some former allies of President Trump who have since turned against him over the conflict.
Oil tankers have increasingly come under attack as they attempt to pass through the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Iran war
After initially estimating that the Iran war would only last a few weeks, Trump now says he expects the conflict to last until November
‘If this report is true, it means we are using US troops to escort oil tankers through the SOH, where oil had been flowing freely before we started this disastrous war of choice at the behest of the Israelis,’ said Joe Kent, a former intelligence official who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the conflict.
‘This is a reckless and frivolous gamble with American lives, which we are foolishly opting to put at risk – not to thwart active terrorist threats to the homeland, but as an attempt to mitigate the damage we inflicted on ourselves and the global economy.’
Over 50,000 US soldiers are deployed to the Middle East under Central Command’s authority.
American servicemen in the region have been deployed to help US allies in the region defend against incoming strikes, attack positions within the Islamic Republic and enforce a blockade against Iranian vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, who initially said the war would be over in weeks, has more recently said he expects the conflict to stretch at least until November after the midterm elections.
A meeting between some US and Iranian officials at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last week did not yield any solid agreements between the two.
The president also spurned a seven-day plan to end the war, telling reporters over the weekend: ‘I’m rejecting their deal.’
‘They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,’ Trump said. ‘You know you don’t read that, you don’t see that in the fake news. We’re winning tremendously. We have total control of the Hormuz Strait, massive amounts of oil are coming out of the Hormuz Strait.’
The Pentagon, White House and Central Command were contacted for comment.
