Pentagon Quietly Raises Number of Troop Deaths in Iran — After Hegseth Slammed Reporting Questioning the Official Death Toll as ‘DISGUSTING’

The Pentagon has updated the number of troop deaths in the Iran war to 21 — after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth slammed a media report claiming the number of troops deaths was greater than the military had publicly acknowledged.

The Pentagon added two noncombat troop deaths Friday to DCAS (Defense Casualty Analysis System).

The update came after The Washington Post reported last month, based on information provided by six officials, that the number of casualties from the war was greater than what the Pentagon was being disclosed publicly.

More than 800 military service members have been wounded during the war, which has now dragged on for more than seven months.

Hegseth lashed out at The Post at the time, denying the Iran reporting.

“This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE. Shame on The Washington Post — they’re worse than Iranian state media,” Hegseth wrote on X.

The two noncombat deaths added to the list of casualties are 46-year-old Maj. Sorffly Davius, a National Guardsman who died in Kuwait in March, and an unidentified Navy sailor who committed suicide in September, according to The Post, which cited a U.S. official on the matter.

There’s also 26-year-old Sgt. Devin A. Seibel, who died in a training accident in May, but that was in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State in the Middle East.

According to the Pentagon, they are revising how DCAS reports casualties, adding a new category called “pending adjudication” to help in reporting.

The Pentagon did not acknowledge any previous mistakes in their reporting, but House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) and Military Personnel Subcommittee Ranking Member Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) accused them of just that.

“There is no excuse for a mistake of this magnitude. While we take seriously our duty to serve as the voice of the American people and hold the executive branch accountable as a co-equal branch of government, requiring Congress to step in to rectify such an egregious error is an embarrassment for the Department,” the pair said in a joint statement.

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