The Pentagon acknowledged an additional 142 service members wounded in President Donald Trump's Iran war by quietly adding a new category to its online database of U.S. military casualties, according to reports Sunday.
The change also resulted in the restoration of four fatalities that had been removed from the Defense Casualty Analysis System, triggering outrage among military families, veterans and lawmakers.
The new category, titled "Overseas Operations," tallies casualties inflicted by Iran since July 7, when fighting resumed following a fragile ceasefire that began April 8.
They include the deaths of First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad, Private Isabella Gonzales and Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton, according to CBS News.
Earlier casualties are listed in a category called "Operation Epic Fury," the name given to the war Trump launched without congressional authorization on Feb. 28.
Outgoing Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has called it an "absurd ruse" to separate the war's casualties by date.
"The Pentagon is pretending there have been two Iran wars separated by a brief cease-fire," he wrote on social media Thursday.
Spokespersons for the Pentagon and the White House didn't immediately respond Sunday night to inquiries from The Independent.
On July 20, The New York Times reported that the Pentagon had withheld dozens of U.S. military injuries from three Iranian attacks against American forces earlier in the month.
The Times said it learned about the Iranian strikes, which also damaged several American helicopters, from U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Following publication of the report, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said on social media that nearly 100 service members had "some degree of injury since July 7," with 96 percent having returned to duty.
"The vast majority of injuries experienced were minor concussions. Further updates will be posted on the Defense Casualty Analysis System," Parnell wrote.
CBS News noted Sunday that minor concussions can include traumatic brain injuries that don't immediately result in symptoms.
Combining the numbers listed on the site's pages for Operation Epic Fury and Overseas Operations shows that there have been a total of 18 service members killed and 624 wounded.
The Pentagon had previously acknowledged only 482 injuries, according to The Guardian.
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