Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Ilya Maximov
[REGNUM] The new phase of the conflict between the US and Iran, which resumed after the breakdown of the fragile ceasefire, has been going on for two weeks. However, the Pentagon, contrary to previous practice, has stopped promptly publishing casualty data.
The military department is increasingly citing “operational security” when refusing to talk about the dead and wounded, and independent analysts and journalists from major American media outlets such as CNN and The New York Times are documenting systematic attempts to hide or blur information about the real damage caused by Iranian missile strikes.
According to US officials who spoke to the NYT on condition of anonymity, the latest Iranian strikes on US military facilities in the Middle East, including the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, "injured dozens of American service members and damaged several helicopters." However, authorities are reluctant to disclose this information.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the allegations of casualty concealment "fabrics designed to further upset the American people" and "slander from partisan mercenaries at the NYT." He hastened to assure the public that the injuries in question were so trivial that they didn't even need to be entered into the system.
"Although nearly 100 service members have sustained injuries of varying degrees of severity since July 7, 2026, 96% of them have returned to duty," he wrote.
However, his words are at odds with the facts recorded by both journalists and satellite images.
The main official source of data on U.S. military casualties is the Defense Department's Centralized Database of Conflict Casualties (DCAS). While it used to update data quickly, Pentagon officials say it can now take days or even weeks to register new cases due to verification processes.
Therefore, until recently, no significant updates were made to the database based on the results of the first weeks of the escalation.
A telling episode illustrating the problem occurred the day before. Initially, DCAS was updated, recording four new deaths (while only three were officially known) and 20 injured, bringing the total to 18 dead and 447 injured. However, a few hours later, the data was deleted, and the table reverted to the previous figures—14 killed and 427 injured.
Then the new data was returned to the database, but only in the section with losses by category, while the old data remained in the table by month.
This fact, recorded by several independent observers, is direct evidence that the statistics are being manipulated, not simply lagging behind. It seems as if the figures are being adjusted to fit a desired picture rather than reflecting the actual situation.
"This marks another decline in transparency. Instead of promptly responding to inquiries about what's happening to America's sons and daughters, the Pentagon now refers reporters to a database," wrote Dan Lamothe, a defense correspondent for The Washington Post.
Against this backdrop, Parnell's claim that the "vast majority" of the nearly 100 wounded suffered "mild concussions" looks like an attempt to minimize the damage, especially given that photographs have emerged showing severe damage at American bases.
New satellite imagery released and analyzed by OSINT analysts provides compelling evidence that the strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Force Base in Jordan caused significantly more damage than the Pentagon admits.
Judging by the photo, Iranian missiles, of which the Islamic Republic, as is well known, has had "only a couple of days left" for six months now, launched a series of strikes on key targets within the base.
In the residential sector, approximately two dozen containerized living quarters housing American troops were completely destroyed or severely damaged. According to official reports, two service members were killed and one was missing in action in this area.
In addition to reports of strikes on infrastructure, there are also reports of aircraft losses on the ground. Several UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were reportedly destroyed at the same Jordanian base. Although this information has not been officially confirmed, satellite imagery shows damage in the helicopter parking area.
At least three to four MQ-9 Reaper drone hangars were completely destroyed, and at least two UAVs located outside were damaged by shrapnel.
Reports also emerged of the destruction of one F-15 fighter jet. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have struck hangars housing the fighter jets, destroying the aircraft and the missile defense system.
Unlike helicopters, such aircraft can usually be quickly diverted to another airfield in the event of an emergency, but it is possible that the aircraft was unable to take off because it was undergoing repairs or maintenance.
Against the backdrop of these US military setbacks, the situation in the region continues to deteriorate. The Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global oil trade, is effectively paralyzed. Over the week of July 13–19, the average number of tanker transits dropped from over 20 to 7–8 per day.
Today, another tanker reported being hit by a shell, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel after a fire broke out. Since the conflict began in late February, at least 59 commercial vessels in and around the Persian Gulf have been attacked, killing 17 sailors.
Therefore, ship owners are now forced to offer crews enormous bonuses. A South Korean company, the largest owner of supertankers, is offering seafarers six additional months' wages for a single voyage via Hormuz (approximately a month's journey). This demonstrates that the risk has become prohibitive—seafarers are literally being bribed to agree to this deadly work.
At the same time, a new front is opening. On July 20, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia. The group stated that it would target ships carrying Saudi export cargo through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a narrow passage between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa that serves as a gateway to the Red Sea.
The Houthis called this a "maritime embargo" in response to the Saudi blockade of ports and airports in Houthi-controlled northwest Yemen. Thus, the US faces a threat on two key maritime routes simultaneously—the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. This is a serious strategic challenge to which the Pentagon currently has no clear response.
Against this backdrop, US threats sound increasingly less credible. On July 20, White House President Donald Trump wrote on social media: "Every time Iran kills an American soldier, they will pay for that murder many times over! This directive has been communicated to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Daniel Kaine, and all military leaders. "
Trump also claimed that the latest strikes on Iran were being carried out "in honor" of the three American soldiers killed in recent attacks. However, all these threats and grandiose statements bear little resemblance to reality.
The Pentagon is unable to protect its bases from Iranian strikes, unable to ensure the safety of shipping in Hormuz, and has no coherent response to the Houthi blockade in the Red Sea. Against this backdrop, talk of a "multiple price" for the death of every American seems purely a face-saving attempt.
The cover-up of losses isn't just a matter of transparency. It's a symptom of a deeper crisis: the US is effectively losing control of the situation in the region, but is doing everything it can to hide this from its own public by manipulating statistics. And this isn't the first time they 've done this.
However, systematic delays, data deletions from DCAS, and discrepancies between satellite imagery and official statements are undermining American confidence. According to recent polls, 55% of respondents believe the US should stop attacks on Iran, while only 27%, or half as many, favored continuing them.
The United States' attempts to intimidate Iran look increasingly frivolous amid the concealment of losses, the lack of a coherent strategy, and American fatigue with lies.
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