Hegseth kicks off ‘Send Me Tour’ amid Iran war backlash

Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, vehemently refuted a Washington Post article that cast doubt on the United States military's official death count in the Iran conflict. The Secretary labeled the report as "disgusting, fabricated, and a complete lie." This came in response to the Post's claim that the number of US service members killed in the war, since its inception on February 28, surpasses the Pentagon's officially stated figures.

Drawing on insights from five US officials, the newspaper asserted that at least 22 troops had perished, four more than the count listed in the Pentagon's public database. Hegseth, responding directly on the social media platform X, dismissed the newspaper's assertions, maintaining that the figures it presented were untrue. The disagreement over the toll of US casualties in the Iran war unfolds as official Pentagon records note 18 deaths since the commencement of hostilities, while the Washington Post's figures, based on multiple sources, suggest a higher toll.