Pentagon’s Iran war casualty count tops 600 amid transparency questions

The Pentagon’s Iran war casualty count topped 600 over the weekend following a quiet update as the department faces questions about the absence of transparency around the number of service members killed or wounded in the fighting.

The Department of Defense (DOD) restored the death of the four service members killed by Iranian strikes last week and added more than 140 injured. 

The Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS), which Pentagon officials say is the accurate database for the injury and death updates of service members in the war, added a new category, dubbed “Overseas Operations,” for those killed and injured since July 7 this year. 

Once the numbers from Operation Epic Fury and Overseas Operations are combined, a total of 18 service members have been killed since the Iran war began on Feb. 28 and another 624 have been injured. 

The DOD has come under fire from lawmakers and the news media after the number of service members killed and injured went down in the DCAS database despite the Iranian attacks on U.S. bases in the........

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