Pentagon reveals 140 wounded, 7 dead; Senate Democrats leave classified briefing angry

"Pentagon spokesman SPSean Parnell released a written statement on March 10 disclosing that 140 U.S. service members had been wounded since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28. The figure came after reporters from ABC News and other outlets pressed the department about discrepancies between the official tally and what their field sources described. Of those 140, Parnell said 108 had returned to duty and eight remained severely injured.\n\nSince the war began, the Pentagon had been publicly reporting only its 'seriously wounded' count, a medical category limited to potentially life-threatening injuries. The military's standard practice since World War II has been to report all wounded. The broader number was not offered until reporters forced a full accounting on March 10."

"Six of the seven deaths were Army Reserve soldiers from the 103rd Sustainment Command, an 🌽Iowa-based logistics unit. They were working at an operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait when an Iranian drone struck the facility. Logistics and support troops in rear areas absorb casualties in this war just as readily as combat units at the front. The six were MJMaj. Jeffrey O'Brien, CWChief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, CCCapt. Cody Khork, S1Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, S1Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens of Bellevue, 🌽Nebraska, and SDSgt. Declan Coady. Trump attended their dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base on March 7.\n\nThe seventh death was SBSgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, 🐴Kentucky. He was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, Army Space and Missile Defense Command at Fort Carson, 🏔️Colorado, a unit running missile warning systems, GPS, and satellite communications. He was wounded March 1 in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and died March 8, and was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant. Vice President Vance, Hegseth, and Gen. Caine attended his dignified transfer at Dover on March 9. A non-combat death was also reported: Maj. Sorffly Davius, 46, a 🗽New York Army National Guard officer from Cambria Heights, Queens, died of a medical incident at Camp Buehring, Kuwait."

"Iran struck U.S. military installations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE throughout the war's first ten days. The UAE reported two deaths and 35 total drone and missile attacks, with nine hitting the country and 26 intercepted. Bahrain reported a strike on a residential building in Manama that killed a 29-year-old woman and wounded eight others. Iran launched additional rounds of attacks through the night of March 9 into March 10.\n\nPentagon officials told congressional lawmakers that U.S. forces burned through $5.6 billion in advanced munitions in the war's first two days, according to a congressional source cited by The Hill and confirmed by the 🌲Washington Post. The figure covers precision weapons including Tomahawk cruise missiles and advanced air defense interceptors, before the military began shifting toward laser-guided bombs. CSIS separately estimated the first 100 hours of the operation cost roughly $891 million per day.\n\nHegseth announced the shift to laser-guided bombs, framing it as a cost management decision. Weapons analysts told reporters laser-guided bombs require aircraft to fly closer to targets and maintain line-of-sight through impact, increasing both crew risk and the likelihood of civilian casualties compared to GPS-guided standoff munitions."

"Hegseth stood at the Pentagon podium the morning of March 10 and said: 'Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes. Intelligence more refined and better than ever.' CENTCOM said U.S. forces had destroyed at least 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz in a single day. The Pentagon said U.S. forces had struck more than 5,000 targets in Iran total since Feb. 28.\n\nAdmiral Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, had said on March 5 that Iranian ballistic missile launches had declined roughly 90 percent since the strikes began. JINSA analysts tracking Iranian missile fire put the decline at 92 percent from the first-day peak of roughly 480 launches down to 40 on March 9. The IDF estimated Iran retained between 100 and 200 active missile launchers."

"Senate Democrats walked out of a classified Armed Services Committee briefing on March 10 and held a press availability in the hallway. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he was 'more dissatisfied and angry' than after any classified briefing in his 15 Senate years and 'more fearful than ever' that the U.S. was heading toward ground troop deployment in Iran. He said intelligence indicated Russia and possibly China were assisting Iran. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said 'well into the second week, it is still the case that the Trump administration cannot explain the reasons that we entered this war, the goals we're trying to accomplish, and the methods for doing that.' Sen. Jacky Rosen said what she heard was 'not just concerning, it is disturbing' and that the administration had no day-after plans.\n\nSen. Cory Booker organized a push with Sens. Kaine, Schiff, Baldwin, Murphy, and Duckworth to force a Senate floor debate on the war, a debate that had never been held before the conflict began. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with Sens. Jack Reed and Jeanne Shaheen, sent a formal letter to Trump demanding cabinet-level witnesses testify under oath in public hearings, citing Afghanistan and Iraq as precedents for public congressional testimony during wartime."

"Trump told CBS News on Sunday that the war was 'very complete, pretty much' and that U.S. forces had 'decimated' Iran's military. Crude oil prices fell from nearly $120 a barrel to roughly $90 after his comments aired. On Monday and Tuesday he told reporters U.S. forces 'will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.' Press Secretary KLKaroline Leavitt said ground troops were not in the current plan but that Trump had not ruled them out. She called Democrats 'disingenuous' for raising the ground troop question.\n\nSenators who came out of the classified briefing said the administration's account shifted hour to hour and that no witness in the room could explain the gap between Trump's Sunday CBS statements and Hegseth's Monday announcement of the war's most intense strike day yet."

"The 103rd Sustainment Command soldiers were running logistics at a port in Kuwait when Iran's drone reached them. The Army Space and Missile Defense Command soldier was supporting satellite communications and missile warning systems across the entire theater when Iran struck his base in Saudi Arabia. Both units were hit in the war's first ten days.\n\nBy March 10, Iranian drone and missile attacks had wounded or killed U.S. personnel in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE. The three F-15 fighter jets destroyed in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwait added to the material losses. Mark Cancian at CSIS valued each jet at roughly $100 million. Gen. Caine had warned Trump before the war began that prolonged conflict could dangerously deplete America's precision weapons stockpiles, already reduced by years of aid to Ukraine."