The Washington Post had published a smaller claim.

Six unnamed U.S. officials told the paper that more American service members had died in the Middle East during the Iran war than the Pentagon had put on its public casualty system. Five of the six said at least twenty-two. One said twenty-three, and not all of those deaths were tied to the fighting. That official also cited three American contractors. Reporters who checked the public database that day wrote eighteen dead: fourteen under Operation Epic Fury, four under Overseas Operations.

The Post wrote that details of the extra deaths, including identities and when, how, and where they died, remain unclear.

Daily Beast led with “Trump Covering Up Number of War Dead, Bombshell Leak Reveals.” HuffPost wrote that the Post’s report “found” there have been at least 22 military fatalities. The Pentagon did not answer the Post’s questions. Pete Hegseth quoted the paper’s tweet that night and posted, “This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE.” He gave no other number. He did not explain the public fourteen and four. WLT Report printed DEBUNKS in a headline and wrote that a total of eighteen U.S. soldiers had been killed.

Reuters wrote that the Post reported it and Hegseth denied it.

Two deaths were public under other operation names. The Department of War identified Maj. Sorffly Davius, who died March 6 at Camp Buehring in Kuwait in a non-combat incident, supporting Operation Spartan Shield. It identified Sgt. Devin A. Seibel, who died May 31 at Erbil Airbase in a training-related incident, supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. The Post and The Hill say those names are not in the public Iran-war database. The Daily Beast put Maj. Davius on a graphic of eighteen announced dead.

I will not joke about either man.

The Hill opened by saying the two had been on missions unrelated to the Iran war. Later in the same piece it added the anonymous extras and wrote of “bringing the death toll from the war to a minimum of 22.” Unrelated, then from the war. The Hill mixed the drawers.

In July the Pentagon moved four deaths from Epic Fury to Overseas Operations. Those four are inside the public eighteen. Friday’s story was a claim about deaths beyond eighteen.

I am not telling you the extra people are imaginary. Nobody has introduced them. A shout on a social network is not a table. A figure of twenty-two is not a roster.

You were handed covering up, or you were handed eighteen. The Post wrote remain unclear, and then the day ran away from that sentence.