The Pentagon has placed killed and wounded troops from renewed US-Iran fighting into a new casualty category, citing the end of 'Operation Epic Fury'. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
The Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) has removed the four soldiers killed and dozens of troops wounded in the latest exchange of fire from its official Iran war tally and placed them in a new category called 'Overseas Operations'. The overall total of wounded from the conflict now stands at 642 troops, between the figures listed under Operation Epic Fury and those listed in the new category in the Pentagon's online system.
A Pentagon official said Tuesday that because Operation Epic Fury has concluded, the military has decided to classify casualties tied to the latest strikes in the new category. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, would not offer a date for the formal end of the operation.
That characterization raises questions about properly counting the impact to U.S. service members after the U.S. military carried out nearly two weeks of consecutive strikes against Iran in a bid to gain control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by striking neighboring countries in the Middle East that host U.S. forces.
After a few days of paused hostilities and efforts by mediators to get both sides back to negotiations, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that it intercepted multiple ballistic missiles fired at American troops in the region. The U.S. and Iran had agreed to a tenuous ceasefire in April and signed an interim deal to end the war in mid-June before strikes began again this month when Iran attacked ships in the crucial shipping route.
After the four soldiers who were killed this month were removed from the Iran war death toll in the online system, Pentagon spokespeople said last week on social media that it was not an effort to hide casualties.