The Pentagon raised the number in official records of US service members who died in the context of the war with Iran from 19 to 21. The update also included two deaths resulting from noncombat-related causes.
One of the new records concerns the death on March 6 in Kuwait of Major Sorvli Davius, a 46-year-old member of the US Army National Guard. The other record concerns a US Navy service member who died by suicide in September.
The US Department of Defense also confirmed the death of another service member in a training accident that was not linked to ongoing operations targeting Iran. Staff Sergeant Devin A. Siebel, 26, died in a training accident in Iraq in May.
Total military deaths in the Middle East reaches 22
Including Siebel's death, the total number of US service members who have died in the Middle East since operations targeting Iran began on February 28 reached 22. Updated defense casualty data recorded the number of wounded service members as 865.
The Pentagon said it remained committed to recording military casualties transparently and accurately.
Pentagon casualty data becomes subject of debate
A report previously published in the US claimed, based on assessments by six US officials, that the number of military deaths was higher than the figure in the Pentagon's publicly available official database. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected the assessment, calling it "completely false" in a statement.
Clashes with Iran and stalled negotiations
The US and Israel carried out military strikes against targets in Iran on February 28. The strikes killed thousands of people, while Iran also attacked Israel and US positions in the region. The sides reached a ceasefire in April.
After negotiations between the two countries stalled, the US struck some targets in Iran again. Although the sides signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June, the deadlock in the talks continued.
One of the points of disagreement in the negotiations concerned navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, an important route for global energy and goods shipments.
