Hegseth Denies Report of 22 US Deaths in Iran War
Washington Post says at least 22 US troops died in the war against Iran, four more than the Pentagon's official database shows. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the report fake.
The US Department of Defense has more troops killed in the war the United States and Israel have been waging against Iran since February than it publicly admits, the Washington Post reported in a story published on September 18, 2026. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth immediately and sharply rejected the report, and the gap between the two death tolls raises the question of how much trust can be placed in official casualty figures from a conflict that, alongside Ukraine and Gaza, is one of three fronts where Washington currently maintains a military presence. For Belgrade, which is building military cooperation with the United States through joint exercises and equipment purchases, cases like this show how unreliable the record keeping of even the largest military power, the one much of NATO in the region relies on, can be.
According to the Washington Post, in a story bylined by Noah Robertson, Tara Copp, Warren P. Strobel and Alex Horton, at least 22 US service members have been killed in the war so far. Five of six officials with access to the Defense Department’s internal casualty data, speaking on condition of anonymity, gave that figure to the paper’s reporters. That is at least four more than the number listed in the Pentagon’s publicly available database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS), which officially records 18 dead.
A sixth official went further, saying that a total of 23 US service members have died in the Middle East since February 28, 2026, when the administration of Donald Trump, together with Israel, launched the war against Iran. According to that official, not all of the unreported deaths are directly tied to combat, with some involving military personnel who were deployed to the region during the conflict. The Pentagon, according to the paper, declined to answer questions about the gap between that number and the figure in its own database.
The defense secretary’s response came the same day, on X, and did not mince words.
“This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE. Shame on the Washington Post, they’re worse than Iranian state media.”
Hegseth called the report “disgusting and fake, a complete lie,” and added that the Washington Post is “worse than Iranian state media.” The paper had not responded to a request for comment on the secretary’s reaction by the time this article was published.
This is not the first time the Pentagon’s official casualty count for the war with Iran has raised doubts. In July 2026, the New York Times reported that the Defense Department had lowered the official death toll in the war from 18 to 14. Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez said at the time that the change was not the result of deleted data but of “temporary glitches” and “anomalies” on the department’s website. Valdez told the paper the Pentagon had tried to explain the anomalies to the New York Times before publication, but that the paper, lacking sufficient understanding of the subject, ran a story that did not amount to actual news. He added that the department remains committed to accurate casualty reporting.
The discrepancy now raised by the Washington Post comes as the White House hardens its stance toward media outlets whose coverage it does not approve of. The same day Hegseth called the paper’s report fake, President Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be barred from the White House, adding that the list of outlets denied access would be expanded.
As of this article’s publication, the Defense Department had not offered an explanation for the gap between the 18 deaths listed in the public database and the 22, or 23, that the Washington Post’s sources say the toll actually stands at. No review of the DCAS database has been announced, nor has any additional statement been issued to clarify the discrepancy.
