140 US troops injured in Iran war so far: Pentagon

The Pentagon says that roughly 140 American service members have been wounded since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom, which started on February 28.

In a statement on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell characterized the “vast majority” of the injuries as “minor.” He said of the injured, “108 service members have already returned to duty. Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care.”

The statement did not provide additional details about the injuries, including when or where they took place. Sources told CBS News that in the wake of the Kuwait operations center strike, dozens of military members suffered brain injuries, burns, and shrapnel trauma. Over 30 military members remain hospitalized in military hospitals in both the US and Germany after being transported out of the Middle East.

This comes after the deaths of several US service members in Iranian retaliatory strikes. Six were killed following a March 1 Iranian strike on a US operations center in Kuwait, while a seventh service member died the same day after a strike on a base in Saudi Arabia. An additional American service member died on March 6 from an unspecified medical emergency in Kuwait.

The Pentagon’s estimate was also confirmed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said a “ballpark” figure of about 150 military members had experienced combat injuries. President Donald Trump has stated that the risk posed to US troops has declined following the initial February 28 strikes, which caused widespread destruction of key Iranian targets.

“We’re going to go further. But the big risk on that war has been over for three days. We wiped them out in the first two days,” Trump said on Monday. “We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective, and some people could say they’re pretty well complete.”

The president added that the war will come to an end when Iran does not have any “capacity whatsoever for a very long period of time of developing weaponry that could be used against the United States, Israel, or any of our allies.”