Photo credit: NYCThe Pentagon has come under scrutiny after reducing the official death toll of US service members killed in the Iran war from 18 to 14 on its website, triggering criticism from military families, veterans and lawmakers over the transparency of its casualty reporting.According to a The New York Times report, the four service members recently killed in Jordan and Iraq were removed from the official tally because they died after President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire, despite the president publicly citing the total number of war dead as 18 days earlier.The acting press secretary for the Pentagon, Joel Valdez, on Thursday attributed the change to “temporary data disruptions” on the website that he suggested would be quickly fixed.The revised casualty count has sparked criticism from military families, veterans and democratic lawmakers, who accused the Pentagon of failing to provide a transparent and timely accounting of the human cost of the conflict.“It is truly disgusting and disheartening to lower the count of our service members who gave their life for this country,” said Tanya Stamos, a Navy veteran and the founder of Operation RJS.She further stated, “As a Navy combat veteran myself, I find it a slap in the face that it is so easy to disregard my brothers and sisters in arms who raised their hand and gave an oath to protect and serve foreign and domestic, all for the government who is choosing to wipe their names from history.”A group of democratic senators has written to defense secretary Pete Hegseth seeking a comprehensive accounting of US personnel killed or wounded during the Iran war, arguing that the American public, Congress and military families are entitled to accurate casualty reporting.After nearly five months of fighting, 18 US service members have been killed in the Iran war. The majority of the fatalities occurred during the conflict's early phase, when Iranian missile and drone attacks targeted American bases across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.Nine service members were killed in those attacks, while another six died on March 12 when a US air force KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq during operational missions.A US navy sailor later died after a helicopter made an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea on July 1, taking the official death toll to 14 before the latest escalation.The remaining four deaths occurred after fighting resumed following the collapse of the ceasefire. On July 18, Iranian ballistic missiles struck Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan, killing 3 US service members. A day later, another US service member was killed at Erbil air base in Iraq during the controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone.