Above photo: AP.
Iranian attacks have decimated US bases across the region.
Forcing Washington to move troops into civilian hotels and office spaces.
Nearly 750 US soldiers have been injured or killed since October 2023, The Intercept revealed in a new investigation released on 1 April – citing a defense official as saying that Washington is engaged in a “casualty coverup.”
At least 15 soldiers were injured last week in an Iranian attack on an air base in Saudi Arabia, two officials confirmed to the outlet, adding that “Hundreds of US personnel have been killed or injured in the region since the US launched a war on Iran just over a month ago.”
The report adds that CENTCOM’s updates have been outdated.
“Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 303 US service members have been wounded,” CENTCOM spokesman Tim Hawkins said at the start of this week.
The Intercept found that “The comment was three days old and excluded at least 15 wounded in the Friday attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia,” adding that “The command did not reply to repeated requests for updated figures.”
The US military also refused to provide the outlet with a number of deaths since the start of the war on Iran. The Intercept says it is “no less than 15.” Washington has not publicly admitted to more than 13 deaths.
“This is, quite obviously, a subject that [War Secretary Pete] Hegseth and the White House want to keep under major wraps,” the anonymous defense official said.
The report accuses the US Army of “hiding losses.”
The Intercept said that in 2024, the the government of former president Joe Biden provided it with detailed information regarding the attacks on US bases which began after the start of the Gaza genocide.
At least 175 soldiers were injured or killed as a result of those attacks, including the three who died in January 2024 when an Iraqi drone struck a base on the Jordan–Syria border.
This number does not include contractors. “Statistics show that there were almost 12,900 cases of injuries to contractors in the CENTCOM area of operations during 2024 alone. More than 3,700 were the most serious non-fatal injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, requiring more than seven days away from work,” the report reveals.
Eighteen contractors were also killed, all of them in Iraq, according to The Intercept. “The numbers are likely significant undercounts, but if even the fractional number of known contractor injuries is added to the tally, the casualty count for Americans and those on US bases may top 13,600.”
Numbers released by US President Donald Trump’s government, on the other hand, “lack detail and clarity.”
“CENTCOM and the White House should be providing accurate and timely information on the costs and casualties involved in this war. After all, it is American taxpayers who are funding it and US economic prosperity and economic well-being that is being undermined by it,” Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at the Defense Priorities think tank, said.
“It has been clear for years that the rapid proliferation of drones and cheap missiles would put US bases and US early detection radars in the region at risk, yet the Pentagon did little to protect them. The failure to invest in hardened infrastructure was a choice. Congress should see this failure as evidence that simply giving the Pentagon more money is not a path to national security,” she added, stressing, “We would be better off if bases across the region were closed for good.
Retired US general Joseph Votel, a former CENTCOM chief, also said Washington did not take enough measures to protect troops from the inevitable Iranian retaliation. “It was a known expectation that, if attacked, Iran would retaliate against our bases, installations, and forces, and I agree that we should have anticipated and been prepared for this inevitability.”
Since the start of the US-Israeli war, Iran has battered US military bases across West Asia with drones and missiles.
WATCH: Wild footage shows Iranian missile exploding meters from US troops as they narrowly escape pic.twitter.com/xizCxUeWpw
— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) March 31, 2026
Western media reports have confirmed that US bases have suffered severe damage, prompting the military to relocate troops to civilian hotels and office spaces. As a result, Tehran has accused the Washington of using human shields.
