Trump administration’s revision of Iran war casualties ‘huge disrespect’, say veterans

Defense department updated database of casualties to list four service members deceased in ‘Overseas Operations’

A controversial move by the Pentagon to reclassify casualties in the Iran war is being taken by US military veterans as a sign of disrespect for the dead.

“It’s such a huge disrespect for the families,” said Michael E Smith, a retired US rear admiral and the founder of National Security Leaders for America. “To claim that they weren’t killed as a result of the war – oh, it was just overseas operations – is just ludicrous.”

In a quiet weekend update to the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS), a military database for displaying casualties, the US Department of Defense – renamed the Department of War under Donald Trump – added more than 140 wounded service members.

They also introduced a new casualty category labeled “Overseas Operations” for personnel killed and wounded “starting July 7” which splits the count from the beginning of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Four US service members killed in action by Iranian forces fall under that category: 1st Lt Tyler James Feehan, Pvt Isabella Gonzales, Sgt Angel S Rampersad and Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton.

“I definitely think that this isn’t an issue just about numbers, but also about accountability,” said Tristeza Ordex, a US Marine Corps veteran and the national organizer of partnerships and engagement at VoteVets.

“When I was deployed to Afghanistan, I remember attending ramp ceremonies,” she said, referring to an airfield memorial honoring a fallen service member before their casket is loaded on to an aircraft and returned home.

Gonzales, 19, was from Carrollton, Texas, near Ordex’s home near Dallas. Gonzales was not yet born when Ordex first enlisted in 2004.

“Thinking about it now makes me emotional, to think about how we have people coming home now … 19 years old,” she said. “I think about people like her that were excluded. Not only are Latinos being excluded from so much more and being targeted: we have this person that paid the ultimate sacrifice for this country who isn’t even being recognized as a casualty of this war, so it feels like erasure.”

The War Powers Act of 1973 requires the president to end military operations within 60 days unless Congress authorizes an extension, which it has not. The Trump administration has argued that the April ceasefire with Iran paused the clock on 1 May for the conflict’s initial period. The separate casualty count beginning on 7 July follows that interpretation.

Smith, who completed combat tours in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo, likened the administrative change to the manipulation of Pentagon casualty data last seen in the Vietnam war.

“It’s so disrespectful to our service members who gave their lives, and the only reason they died was because Donald Trump decided to do this illegal war,” Smith said. “I mean, clearly the president is very sensitive about the deaths. You know, he is comparing it to Korea and Vietnam.

“Obviously their boss doesn’t want to hear about deaths. OK, well, here’s one way we can make it look like there’s not as many deaths.”

Joel Valdez, acting Pentagon press secretary, said: “The classification of Iran conflict casualties under Overseas Operations is grounded strictly in a factual basis, not commentary or narrative. We honor our fallen service members forever and always.”

The department’s reclassification of Iran war casualties has faced criticism in Washington, including from Thomas Massie, a Republican House member from Kentucky, ousted in a primary earlier this year after repeatedly breaking with the president.

“Let me explain this absurd ruse: The Pentagon is pretending there have been two Iran wars separated by a brief cease-fire,” Massie wrote on X on Friday. “The reality: By going more than 90 days without congressional authorization,” the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, “IS BREAKING THE LAW and must be held accountable”.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a Democrat on the armed services committee, added: “Americans deserve the truth about the human cost of President Trump’s Iran war, and I will not stop fighting until this administration gives our military members and their families the transparency and accountability they deserve.”