Pentagon ties new casualty category for renewed US-Iran fighting to the
end of 'Operation Epic Fury'
[July 29, 2026]
By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said a new, separate category was created
in its official casualty system to account for those killed and wounded
in the renewed U.S.-Iran fighting because “Operation Epic Fury,” the
military’s name for combat operations against Tehran, has ended.
The Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, has removed the four
soldiers killed and dozens of troops wounded in the latest exchange of
fire from its official Iran war tally and placed them in a new category
called “Overseas Operations.”
The overall total of wounded from the conflict now stands at 642 troops,
between the figures listed under Operation Epic Fury and those listed in
the new category in the Pentagon’s online system.
A Pentagon official said Tuesday that because Operation Epic Fury has
concluded, the military has decided to classify casualties tied to the
latest strikes in the new category. The official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity to discuss internal matters, would not offer a date for the
formal end of the operation.
That characterization raises questions about properly counting the
impact to U.S. service members after the U.S. military carried out
nearly two weeks of consecutive strikes against Iran in a bid to gain
control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by striking neighboring
countries in the Middle East that host U.S. forces.
After a few days of paused hostilities and efforts by mediators to get
both sides back to negotiations, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that
it intercepted multiple ballistic missiles fired at American troops in
the region. The U.S. and Iran had agreed to a tenuous ceasefire in April
and signed an interim deal to end the war in mid-June before strikes
began again this month when Iran attacked ships in the crucial shipping
route.
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A U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains
of 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Wednesday, July
22, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
After the four soldiers who were killed this month were removed from the
Iran war death toll in the online system, Pentagon spokespeople said
last week on social media that it was not an effort to hide the growing
human cost of the conflict but rather the result of “anomalies” and
“temporary data disruptions” that were being resolved “imminently.”
On Sunday, those troops appeared by name in the new “Overseas
Operations” category. Three soldiers were killed after a base in Jordan
was struck July 17 by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, and one
died in Iraq a day later during a controlled detonation of an Iranian
drone.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at a White House briefing
in May that the operation had “concluded,” saying that “we achieved the
objectives of that operation.”
When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before Congress last week,
he didn’t argue that the Iran war had concluded and even offered
lawmakers some cost estimates for the conflict that ran through Sept.
30.
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