Pentagon's official Iran war death toll no longer lists 4 troops killed during renewed fighting

The four American troops killed during renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran in recent weeks are no longer listed as part of the Iran war death toll in the Pentagon's official casualty count but have been placed in a new, separate category. It is raising questions about properly counting the impact to U.S. service members as the Trump administration has escalated strikes on Iran in a bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The Defense Casualty Analysis System removed the four fallen soldiers as well as dozens of wounded troops from its Iran war tally last week. A new category called 'Overseas Operations' emerged on the system's website, listing the four Army deaths by name as well as 207 wounded. Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez argued that the drop in casualty figures was not an effort to hide the growing human toll but rather the result of 'anomalies' and 'temporary data disruptions' that were being resolved 'imminently.' As late as Tuesday, the website was reporting the war's official toll as 18 killed and 482 wounded. By Wednesday, the Iran war figures in the Pentagon's system fell back to 14 dead and 420 wounded. However, a U.S. official told The Associated Press at the time that the actual number of wounded personnel in the war had actually grown to well over 500 troops.