Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is facing accusations that the Pentagon concealed injuries suffered by eight US service members during a previously undisclosed mission in the Strait of Hormuz.
Three anonymous US officials told NBC News that an Iranian cruise missile struck a “maritime vessel” carrying at least eight American troops—seven enlisted personnel and one officer—during an operation on September 14.
The officials declined to disclose the vessel’s name, type or flag. They confirmed that the troops were not aboard a US Navy ship.
The Marines, who were part of a battalion landing team, reportedly suffered smoke inhalation, possible traumatic brain injuries and concussion-like symptoms such as headaches, according to the officials.
None of the injuries was considered serious, and all eight service members returned to duty soon after the Iranian missile attack.
However, the Pentagon did not immediately announce that US troops had been injured in the strike.
The service members were not added to the Department of War’s Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, until roughly 10 days later, according to the report.
Neither the Pentagon nor US Central Command has publicly acknowledged the September 14 mission, which had not been reported before NBC News published its account.
Eight US service members were injured when an Iranian missile struck a vessel carrying them, though the ship was not a US Navy vessel, three US officials told NBC News
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has faced accusations that he concealed the full number of casualties linked to the US war with Iran
The eight injured Marines returned to duty soon after suffering injuries that included smoke inhalation and possible traumatic brain injuries, officials said
The disclosure has intensified scrutiny of how the Pentagon is tracking and reporting US military casualties during the Iran war.
The latest DCAS figures show that 861 US service members have been wounded and 19 killed in the conflict.
Transparency concerns mounted over the summer after the Pentagon reduced the reported casualty figures by reclassifying certain deaths and injuries.
One official told NBC News that the reporting delay may have occurred because the service members did not immediately submit information about the incident to the DCAS database.
EXPLORE MORE: Cold Case Answers: Who killed Shannon Poteet, a young Native American mom, in 1986? – NewsFinale
DCAS does not identify individual troops or provide details about when, where or how service members were injured or killed.
Several Democratic lawmakers have accused Hegseth of hiding the true number of casualties. Representative Pat Ryan of New York described the delay in updating DCAS as a “blatant, unprecedented cover-up.”
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee also sent Hegseth a letter accusing the Pentagon of obscuring the number of casualties connected to the Iran war.
The report has also triggered anger among former Trump allies who have since turned against the president over the conflict with Iran.
Oil tankers have increasingly come under attack as they navigate the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Iran war
After initially estimating that the Iran war would only last a few weeks, Trump now says he expects the conflict to last until November
‘If this report is true, it means we are using US troops to escort oil tankers through the SOH, where oil had been flowing freely before we started this disastrous war of choice at the behest of the Israelis,’ said Joe Kent, a former intelligence official who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the conflict.
‘This is a reckless and frivolous gamble with American lives, which we are foolishly opting to put at risk – not to thwart active terrorist threats to the homeland, but as an attempt to mitigate the damage we inflicted on ourselves and the global economy.’
Over 50,000 US soldiers are deployed to the Middle East under Central Command’s authority.
US soldiers in the region have been deployed to help US allies in the region defend against incoming strikes, attack positions within the Islamic Republic and enforce a blockade against Iranian vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump, who initially said the war would be over in weeks, has more recently said he expects the conflict to stretch at least until November after the midterm elections.
A meeting between some US and Iranian officials at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last week did not yield any solid agreements between the two.
The president also spurned a seven-day plan to end the war, telling reporters over the weekend: ‘I’m rejecting their deal.’
‘They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,’ Trump said. ‘You know you don’t read that, you don’t see that in the fake news. We’re winning tremendously. We have total control of the Hormuz Strait, massive amounts of oil are coming out of the Hormuz Strait.’
The Pentagon, White House and Central Command were contacted for comment.