Washington (Somalia Today) — The Pentagon faced mounting questions Monday after The New York Times reported that it had not disclosed three Iranian attacks that wounded dozens of American troops in Jordan before a deadly strike killed two US soldiers and left another missing.
Iran launched the earlier missile and drone attacks during the week before Friday’s bombardment, the newspaper reported, citing several US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing operational matters.
The strikes also damaged several US military helicopters.
The disclosures have intensified scrutiny of how President Donald Trump’s administration reports casualties and battlefield damage nearly five months into the war with Iran, as both sides escalate attacks following the collapse of a fragile truce.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell rejected allegations that the military had concealed casualty figures, saying officials regularly updated the publicly available Defense Casualty Analysis System.
“Claims of concealment are fabrications meant to further distress the American people in the wake of three service members killed in action,” Parnell said.
He said nearly 100 US personnel had suffered injuries since renewed fighting began on July 7, with the “vast majority” experiencing mild concussions.
Ninety-six per cent of them had returned to duty, he added.
“Cherry-picking raw numbers without context paints a deliberately misleading and incomplete picture,” Parnell said.
He said military injury totals could include ailments ranging from sprained ankles during training to incidents unrelated to combat.
Operational security
US officials defended the limited disclosures, saying the military needed to protect its forces and prevent Tehran from learning which attacks had penetrated American defences or caused the greatest damage.
Central Command does not have to announce every injury, particularly when troops receive treatment and quickly return to duty, one US military official told The New York Times.
Another official questioned why the Pentagon should release information that could help Iran improve the accuracy of its ballistic missile and drone attacks on Jordan and other Middle Eastern bases housing thousands of American troops.
Central Command has also stopped announcing how many sites it strikes inside Iran each day, citing the same operational security concerns.
Critics, however, say aggregate figures do not tell the public where casualties occurred, how Iranian attacks breached US defences or whether Tehran has retained greater missile capabilities than Washington previously acknowledged.
In statements announcing attacks on Iranian military sites last week, Central Command said it was retaliating for strikes on commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
It did not mention Iran’s attacks on American bases in the region, including those in Jordan.
Central Command said Friday’s attack took place as US and allied forces defended against Iranian ballistic missiles and drones in Jordan.
The Pentagon identified the dead soldiers as First Lieutenant Tyler J. Feehan, 25, of Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Texas.
Four other service members were taken to Jordanian hospitals and later discharged.
More troops suffered minor injuries and returned to duty, Central Command said, without specifying how many.
The statement did not mention the service members injured in the three previous attacks in Jordan that week.
Officials were also examining unidentified remains found at the site as US forces continued searching for the missing service member.
Rising US death toll
A third American service member died in northern Iraq during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone.
The latest deaths brought to 17 the number of US military personnel killed since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.
The Pentagon’s online casualty database listed 427 service members injured during the conflict.
It recorded 14 deaths in hostile and non-hostile incidents, although officials had not yet updated the figures to include the deaths announced over the weekend.
The Pentagon normally identifies dead service members only after 24 hours have passed since officials notify their next of kin. It does not usually release the names of troops wounded in action.
Trump told NewsNation in a brief telephone interview that the soldiers had died “in service of our country”.
He repeated that the war’s central goal was “never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the deaths would strengthen Washington’s determination to continue the campaign.
“Godspeed, heroes,” Hegseth wrote on social media. “Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
Trump later threatened a heavier response.
“Every time Iran kills an American soldier, they will pay for that killing many times over,” he said, adding that he had passed the order to Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pressure for answers
The United States has carried out 10 consecutive nights of strikes on Iranian military targets.
Washington says the campaign aims to curb Iranian attacks on commercial shipping and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage for global oil supplies.
Iran says it launched its attacks in retaliation for the US bombardment and insists it is targeting military installations.
Tehran has vowed to continue responding to what it describes as American escalation.
The Trump administration has provided little public information about its wider military strategy since the fragile truce collapsed.
The Pentagon last held a major briefing on the war in early May.
The administration has also faced criticism for failing to disclose how the conflict has depleted US stocks of expensive and critical weapons, and how Iran has retained or rebuilt significant missile capabilities.
Hegseth and Caine were due to appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to discuss a supplemental funding request.
The hearing was expected to give lawmakers a new opportunity to question them about the war’s objectives, costs and casualty reporting.
The Jordan attack echoed a January 2024 drone strike by an Iran-backed militia on Tower 22, a US base near the Syrian border.
That attack killed three American soldiers and wounded more than 40.
The Biden administration publicly announced the increasing number of wounded troops in the days that followed.
The human cost of the current war has been far greater inside Iran.
Estimates indicate that more than 3,600 people have died since the conflict began, including more than 1,700 Iranian civilians and at least 254 children.
