US military casualties rise to over 770 as Iran conflict enters 6th month

The number of US service members killed or wounded in the Iran war has risen to more than 770, according to casualty figures provided by the Pentagon, reported by The Washington Post on Friday, as the conflict enters its sixth month, reported ANI.

The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon's casualty reporting system showed 774 US service members killed or wounded, including 18 killed and 756 wounded in the conflict.

According to the Post, the Pentagon added scores of new troops to the wounded list in recent days, even as the United States and Iran have largely remained under a ceasefire in recent weeks.

It noted that some of the newly added figures could reflect a delay between an injury being recorded in the military's medical system and its appearance in the Pentagon's casualty database.

US President Donald Trump also did not extend the ceasefire with Iran, as per the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding that was signed in June, after it expired on Monday.

However, there has been no large-scale resumption of combat operations by either side since then.

CNN, meanwhile, reported that the number of wounded US service members has crossed 750 on Wednesday.

When figures under the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) for "Overseas Operations" are combined with those for Operation Epic Fury, CNN reported that 18 service members have died since the US launched the war against Iran on February 28.

CNN reported that the Pentagon created the "Overseas Operations" category last month in DCAS for service members killed and wounded "starting July 7."

The Pentagon has not provided additional details or specified the conflict associated with the category.

The July 7 date also corresponds with the day the Trump administration informed the US Congress that a new conflict with Iran had begun in a War Powers Act notification.

The latest figures come weeks after the Pentagon faced scrutiny over changes to its casualty data.

The number of killed and wounded service members had decreased in the database even as Iranian attacks continued, with four deaths and dozens of injuries disappearing from the totals before being restored.

The War Department had attributed those changes to "temporary data disruptions", according to CNN.

CNN also reported that the Pentagon has been slow to disclose wounded troops during the conflict, with officials citing security concerns.

Iran slams new US economic pressure campaign

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Saturday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's planned new economic pressure campaign against Tehran, saying Washington was seeking to force other countries to comply with U.S. sanctions, reported Xinhua.

Trump said Wednesday that the United States would launch what he called "the most crushing economic operation ever taken" against Iran, threatening consequences for countries, companies and financial institutions that continue to provide Tehran with an economic lifeline.

He described the campaign as "Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale" and an "ECONOMIC D-DAY."

Baghaei said on X that such secondary sanctions amounted to an assertion of U.S. "extraterritorial sovereignty" over other countries.

He argued that Washington had no right to compel foreign banks, companies or other entities to halt lawful trade with Iran, saying such measures violated the principle of sovereign equality under the UN Charter.

Separately, Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, said Friday that Washington had shown it "does not understand the language of diplomacy."

The latest tensions come after a 60-day window for the United States and Iran to negotiate a final agreement expired Monday without a deal. The two sides signed an interim memorandum in June aimed at ending hostilities and paving the way for broader negotiations.

Iranian commander says pilots jailed in Qatar ´severely wounded, ill´

An Iranian military commander said Saturday that Iran's three pilots believed to have been held captive by Qatar since March are "severely wounded and ill," reported Xinhua.

In a statement published on the committee's website, Commander of the Missing Persons Search Committee of the General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Mohammad Bagherzadeh stressed that the pilots are being held offshore and called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to transfer them to Iran by air ambulance.

Bagherzadeh welcomed the Qatari government's move to accept a team of Iranian experts, calling on the Arab state to provide the necessary cooperation.

He said the offshore location for keeping the pilots is not appropriate and requested Qatar's government to transfer them to a well-equipped onshore hospital as soon as possible.

Bagherzadeh also pointed to the situation of four Iranian nationals, who were detained by Kuwait in May on the charge of having attempted to "infiltrate" Kuwaiti territory, noting that the Arab state has granted initial consent to let Iran's ambassador meet them.

On Aug. 15, Bagherzadeh said Qatari forces had captured three Iranian pilots whose fighter jets were shot down when returning from a military mission against a U.S. base in Qatar in March. The commander said a fourth pilot was killed. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari later denied the claim in a social media post.

The next day, Bagherzadeh called on the Qatari government to allow a fact-finding team from the Air Force of Iran's Army to visit Qatar.

On Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the country will use all its bilateral, multilateral and legal capacities to clarify the pilots' situation.