18 US troops killed, 447 wounded in Iran War. How that compares to past conflicts

Data Visualization Journalist

Eighteen U.S. service members have been killed in the Iran War since the U.S. and Israel launched the initial strikes in late February.

Two service members were killed, and a third is believed to be dead, after a July 17 attack on an air base in Jordan, according to a Pentagon statement. A fourth soldier was killed during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone on July 19.

Ten of the 18 deaths in the Iran War have been in hostile action, according to the Pentagon. A service member is considered killed in hostile action if they are the victim of terrorist activity or if they die as a direct result of combat.

In March, six soldiers were killed in a Kuwait drone strike, and one service member was killed after Iran attacked a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia.

Another six crew members of a refueling aircraft were killed in a crash on March 12, and in early July, a U.S. helicopter pilot died in a crash in the Arabian Sea. The Department of Defense does not classify those deaths under the definition of killed in “hostile action.”

The last time this many U.S. service members were killed in hostile action in a single year was when 13 American service members were killed in Kabul on Aug. 26, 2021, during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Injury totals

Since July 7, 100 U.S. service members have been injured in the Iran War, according to a statement on social media from Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell.

A total of 447 service members have been injured since the war began, according to the Defense Casualty Analysis System.

Past hostile action deaths

Also during President Donald Trump’s second term, two soldiers were killed in an attack in Syria on Dec. 13, 2025. In his first term, 67 service members were killed in hostile action.

Most U.S. soldiers who were killed in hostile action since 1980 were killed during the war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Their deaths fell primarily under George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s presidencies.