During the week preceding Friday’s Iranian assault that killed two U.S. soldiers and left another service member unaccounted for in Jordan, Iran launched three additional strikes against American forces stationed there.
Those strikes wounded dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to multiple U.S. officials who spoke anonymously to discuss operational details.
However, the Pentagon chose not to reveal those earlier attacks, nor the resulting casualties and damage.
This incident illustrates the ongoing tension within the Iran conflict between the Pentagon’s claim of needing operational security and the government’s duty to keep the public informed about wartime actions.
Following last week’s U.S. airstrikes on Iranian military sites, Central Command stated the action was retaliation for Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, without acknowledging Iran’s strikes on regional bases, including those in Jordan.
A U.S. military official noted that Central Command is not obligated to disclose information about injured service members, particularly when they return to duty swiftly.
Another U.S. military official questioned why the Pentagon would release data that could enable Iran to pinpoint its lethal ballistic missiles and drone strikes against Jordan and other Middle Eastern bases housing thousands of American troops.
For the same rationale, Central Command has ceased daily announcements of the number of Iranian sites it strikes, according to U.S. officials.
Since the breakdown of a tenuous truce, the Pentagon has offered scant details about U.S. military strategy after nearly five months of conflict, with its most recent major briefing occurring in early May.
In a brief phone call with NewsNation, President Trump stated that the troops died “in service of our country” and reiterated that the war’s chief objective remains “preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media Saturday that the loss of the two U.S. soldiers would strengthen American resolve.
Central Command reports that more than 400 U.S. service members have been injured in the Iran conflict. Although the Pentagon previously issued periodic updates on the total number of injured troops who returned to duty, it has ceased providing those figures in recent weeks.
In past administrations, the Pentagon typically withheld details on injured service members until families had been notified. During the Biden administration, it routinely disclosed the number of troops wounded in attacks by Iran‑backed militias on U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq.
Greg Jaffe, John Ismay and Helene Cooper contributed reporting.
