Pentagon website "anomalies" that removed names of 4 killed in Iran war remain

The Pentagon website that informs the public about the dead and wounded in different military conflicts removed four deaths from the war with Iran this week, showing that 14 service members have died, instead of the 18 who have been killed since the war began in February.

The site, which was last updated on July 22, on Friday still showed only 14 killed in the conflict.

According to the Congressional Research Service, when an active-duty service member dies, the service "is required to complete a form (DD 1300 Report of Casualty) that includes circumstances related to death," and that information is then entered into the Defense Casualty database.

The New York Times first reported the database's missing numbers Thursday and cited three sources who said it was because the most recent four service members who were killed in Jordan and Iraq last week died after the Trump administration declared a ceasefire in April. But the four service members were killed about one week after President Trump notified Congress in a letter on July 10 that the ceasefire had ended and military action had resumed on July 7.

Deaths in the war with Iran have been listed on the website under Operation Epic Fury, the name the Pentagon gave to the war when it began in February.

When the Pentagon released the names of two of three killed in an Iranian attack in Jordan last week, it initially classified them as deaths under Operation Inherent Resolve, the name for the mission targeting ISIS. It later amended the releases to say the service members had died in "overseas operations."

Earlier this week, the four service members' deaths were listed under Operation Epic Fury. On Thursday, however, their names no longer appeared there.

There is another discrepancy, too. The "names of the fallen" under the operation only lists the names of 13 of the deceased service members, rather than 14. CBS News has reached out to the Navy, which has a "pending death" on the site in July. If confirmed, that would bring the death total to 14. There are no Navy service members currently listed among the names of the fallen under Epic Fury. The Navy identified Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards as missing following a helicopter's emergency landing in the Arabian Sea on July 1.

Throughout the war with Iran, the Pentagon has been slow to provide information about injuries. After the New York Times reported earlier this week that dozens of troops had been injured in attacks in the Middle East, the Pentagon initially referred reporters with questions on the wounded to the website — even though it had not been update