Pentagon Undercounted Iran War Deaths, Report Says

More US soldiers have died in the US-Israeli war with Iran than the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged so far, according to The Washington Post.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth rejected the report, calling it "a complete lie".

Citing five unnamed officials, the newspaper reported that at least 22 members of the US military died. The Pentagon's publicly available database lists four fewer deaths.

According to another unnamed source, however, not all of the unreported deaths were directly related to the months-long conflict but involved US military personnel stationed in the Middle East during the ongoing fighting.

Hegseth categorically denied the newspaper's claims on the social media platform X. According to the newspaper, the Pentagon declined to answer questions about the discrepancy between the official figures and the newspaper's findings.

(Reuters, est)