Report: US Iran War Deaths Exceed Pentagon Count

More American service members have died in the war with Iran than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing six US officials familiar with the Defense Department's internal casualty accounting data.

Five of those officials put the death toll at 22. A sixth said the number is 23. The Pentagon's public database lists 18.

The Post report was written by Noah Robertson, Tara Copp, Warren P. Strobel and Alex Horton. The Pentagon, run by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, did not respond to the Post's inquiries about the disputed figures.

The Numbers

18 — deaths listed in the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the Pentagon's public database.

22 — the figure given by five of the six officials; one put it at 23.

3 — American contractors in the region who have also died since the war began, according to one official.

$45.1 billion — what US Central Command told Congress the conflict has cost through early September, with an additional $28 billion needed to replace spent munitions.