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More US troops have died during the Iran war than the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged, according to a new report from The Washington Post.

Getting into it: Five US officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty data told the Post that at least 22 service members have died since the war began on February 28, four more than the 18 listed in the Pentagon’s public Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS. A sixth official put the number at 23, adding that three US contractors have also died. That official said not every undisclosed death was directly tied to the fighting, but all involved troops deployed to the region during the conflict. Who the missing service members are, and when, where, and how they died, is still unknown, and the Pentagon declined to answer the Post’s questions about the gap.

Despite all of this, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hit back on X, writing, “This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE,” and accusing the Post of being worse than Iranian state media.

It is not the first time the count has come into question. Over the summer, four troops killed in the war briefly disappeared from the official tally when the administration moved deaths that occurred after the July ceasefire collapsed into a separate category labeled “Overseas Operations” instead of Operation Epic Fury, the name for the Iran war. Getting the count right matters beyond transparency, since every death triggers a line-of-duty investigation that decides what survivor benefits a family can receive.

The toll keeps climbing in other ways too. Hundreds of troops have been wounded, many with traumatic brain injuries from Iranian strikes on US bases. US Central Command estimates the war cost about $43.6 billion through early September, with roughly $28 billion of that spent on munitions. The estimate does not include damage to bases.

This all comes as Democrats signal that investigations are on the way. Twelve House Democrats who are military veterans, led by Reps. Pat Ryan and Jason Crow, said Friday they are pushing legislation to stop the Pentagon from manipulating casualty data, matching a bill Sen. Tammy Duckworth introduced last month with 17 Democratic colleagues. Senate Democrats have also pledged to investigate how the Pentagon has handled casualty reporting if they win back the majority in November.