In the week leading up to the Iranian attack on Friday that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, Iran carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in the country.<\/p>\n
Those attacks injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.<\/p>\n
But the Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted.<\/p>\n
The episode is the latest example during the Iran conflict of the tension between what the Pentagon says is the need for operational security and the government\u2019s obligation to inform the public about the conduct of the war.<\/p>\n
In statements after airstrikes against Iranian military sites last week, U.S. Central Command said it was retaliating for Iran\u2019s attacks against commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, never mentioning Iran\u2019s strikes on bases in the region, including in Jordan.<\/p>\n
Central Command is not required to release information about injured service members, especially when they quickly return to duty, a U.S. military official said.<\/p>\n
Moreover, another U.S. military official added, why would the Pentagon divulge information that could help Iran zero in on its deadly ballistic missiles and drone attacks in Jordan and other bases in the Middle East where thousands of American troops are stationed?<\/p>\n
Central Command has also stopped announcing how many sites in Iran it hits each day for the same reason, U.S. officials say.<\/p>\n
Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said that the military had not withheld or misrepresented U.S. casualties in the war. \u201cClaims of concealment are fabrications meant to further distress the American people in the wake of three service members killed in action,\u201d he said<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n He pointed to the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Casualty Analysis System<\/a>, which he said was \u201cregularly updated\u201d with the latest information regarding dead and wounded U.S. troops. The publicly available site offers aggregate figures, but does not include information on specific mass-casualty attacks of the sort that have occurred in Jordan over the last week.<\/p>\n \u201cCherry-picking raw numbers without context paints a deliberately misleading and incomplete picture,\u201d Mr. Parnell added.<\/p>\n In the days since the collapse of a fragile truce, the Pentagon has provided little information<\/a> about the American military strategy after nearly five months of war. The last major Pentagon briefing on the war was in early May.<\/p>\n In the past several months, the Trump administration has failed to disclose how the Iran war has drained U.S. supplies<\/a> of critical, costly weapons, and how Iran retained and rebuilt substantial missile capabilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n The subject of American casualties in the war is similarly sensitive. The deaths of two Army soldiers in Jordan on Friday and another service member in northern Iraq bring to 17 the total number of American military personnel killed<\/a> since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. <\/p>\n The Pentagon\u2019s casualty reporting protocols call for publicly identifying deceased service members only after 24 hours have passed since next of kin were notified. The names of troops wounded in action are not typically released.<\/p>\n In a statement on Saturday, Central Command said four American service members wounded<\/a> in Friday\u2019s attack were taken to Jordanian hospitals and had been discharged. More American troops received minor injuries and had returned to duty, the statement said, but it did not specify how many.<\/p>\n And the statement did not mention service members injured in the three previous attacks in Jordan last week.<\/p>\n In a brief phone call<\/a> with NewsNation, President Trump said the troops died \u201cin service of our country\u201d and reiterated the war\u2019s primary goal of \u201cnever allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n