Citing newly declassified reports, the U.S. State Department has revealed that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the killing of at least 608 American troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2011.
U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, said during a State Department briefing on Tuesday that “this accounts for 17% of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011… This death toll is in addition to the many thousands of Iraqis killed by the IRGC’s (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) proxies”.
Giving an update on the Trump administration’s efforts to confront Iran’s illegal nuclear and non-nuclear activities, Mr Hook revealed that so far “over 970 Iranian entities and individuals” and “more than 70 financial institutions” had been sanctioned.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander Sean Robertson said that the casualties “were the result of explosively formed penetrators, other improvised explosive devices, improvised rocket-assisted munitions, rockets, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms, sniper, and other attacks in Iraq”.
The Pentagon’s latest figures are higher than earlier estimates, which put the number of US troops killed by Iranian proxies and weapons at roughly 500.
