Pentagon Reduced Death Count From Iran War To Match Trump Timeline: Report

In nan past 2 days, nan Pentagon reportedly reduced nan announced U.S. work personnel decease toll successful the Iran war from 18 to 14.

Three subject officials told The New York Times that nan revision was successful portion because nan most caller 4 deaths — 3 successful Jordan and 1 successful Iraq — came aft President Trump declared an first ceasefire successful April.

“The management seems to person a existent difficult clip being honorable astir what is going connected — not conscionable astir casualties, but astir nan full warfare successful general,” retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who served successful nan first Trump administration, told nan paper.

In a post Thursday connected X, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called suggestions of an intentional simplification “one of nan worst instances of nan Fake News media manufacturing lies retired of bladed aerial for perfectly nary logic astatine each but to origin distress among nan American people.”

“The tract errors connected nan Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) were owed to a impermanent information disruption,” he added.

A reappraisal of nan Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System still showed 14 deaths arsenic of Thursday astatine 6 p.m. Pacific time.

President Trump, meanwhile, has many times referred to 18 deaths from nan warfare successful remarks passim this week while defending nan conflict’s casualty count.

“One is excessively many, but it’s 18,” he said connected Thursday.

The Republican has claimed nan fallen troops supported his run successful Iran because they wanted to extremity nan state from possessing a atomic weapon.

“They said, and each of them said very strongly, ‘We can’t let, we cannot fto Iran person a atomic weapon. They won’t person a atomic weapon,’” nan president said connected Wednesday up of a honorable transportation ceremony. “So, we’re going to grant them, and 1 of nan hardest things to do — for me, it’s 1 of nan hardest things to do arsenic a president — but has to beryllium done.”

It’s not nan first clip nan Trump management has been accused of downplaying nan effect of nan conflict.

The subject allegedly did not disclose 3 strikes successful Jordan past week that injured dozens of U.S. work members and damaged aggregate helicopters, various outlets reported.

On Monday, Parnell said successful a connection that location person been astir 100 injuries arsenic a consequence of nan war. He added that “claims of concealment are fabrications meant to further distress nan American people.”

An estimated 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed passim nan Middle East arsenic nan conflict continues.

Attacks against Iran, which person included a onslaught connected a girls' school, person killed astatine slightest 1,700 Iranian civilians, according to quality authorities activists.

President Trump has vowed to explosive a span aliases powerfulness plant each clip Iran fires connected a vessel successful nan Strait of Hormuz.

Intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure could beryllium considered a warfare crime, according to experts.