03 / The cost of war

Power has a human cost.

Compare Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan across the operation period, opposing forces and reported losses. Every number belongs to a named operation and a dated source.

Compare operations, not a casualty league table.

The windows differ in duration, geography and mission. A short strike and a long counterinsurgency are not equivalent. “Killed in action” is included in hostile deaths; do not add these two figures together. Missing enemy or civilian losses never mean zero.

First operationSecond operation

Iran

Epic Fury

Trump II

Operation window

End unverified

February 28, 2026 · start verified

An end date is not established in the cited casualty record. A completed-war duration is therefore not calculated. Separate from the June 2025 Midnight Hammer strike. Duration is elapsed calendar days between the stated boundaries.

Adversary strength at the time

Overall rank not verified

No comparable global military-power rank at the February 2026 outbreak has been verified in the allowed official sources.

U.S. military casualties

Killed in action: 6
All hostile deaths: 7
Non-hostile deaths: 7
Total deaths: 14
Wounded in action: 418

Epic Fury operation-wide counts, not all U.S.–Iran conflicts. Hostile deaths include one death from wounds in addition to six killed in action.

Opposing forces & physical damage

The March 12 White House account describes military objectives. A verified aggregate of Iranian deaths is not established by the sources used here.

Civilian harm

No verified civilian-death total in this source set. This does not mean zero.

Official sources & reporting dates

Official sourcePentagon DCAS: Epic Fury Table as of September 23, 2026 · Casualty Summary by Casualty Category; total across services.

Official sourceDCAS: Epic Fury start date Accessed September 29, 2026

Official sourceWhite House: Operation Epic Fury objectives March 12, 2026

Iraq

Iraqi Freedom

George W. Bush → Obama

Operation window

2,722 days

March 20, 2003 – September 1, 2010

Dates follow the DCAS operation chronology; September 1 marks the transition to New Dawn. This compares Operation Iraqi Freedom, not every phase of U.S. involvement in Iraq. New Dawn and later operations are excluded. Duration is elapsed calendar days between the stated boundaries.

Adversary strength at the time

Overall rank not verified

Iraq’s army-size description in 1991 cannot be reused for the 2003 invasion. A comparable 2003 global military-power rank is not verified here.

U.S. military casualties

Killed in action: 2,675
All hostile deaths: 3,481
Non-hostile deaths: 937
Total deaths: 4,418
Wounded in action: 31,994

OIF operation-wide Pentagon totals span two presidencies; they are not attributed entirely to the president who began the operation.

Opposing forces & physical damage

A verified Iraqi military-death total is not established in the selected White House/Pentagon records.

Civilian harm

No verified civilian-death total in this source set. This does not mean zero.

Official sources & reporting dates

Official sourcePentagon DCAS: Iraqi Freedom Table as of September 23, 2026 · Casualty Summary by Casualty Category; total across services.

Official sourceDCAS: Iraqi Freedom chronology Accessed September 29, 2026

Official sourceDCAS: transition to New Dawn Accessed September 29, 2026

Army size is not an overall military-power rank.

The official 1991 description of Iraq as the fourth-largest army measures a different thing from a modern composite ranking. We do not substitute today’s rankings for the balance of forces when a war began. Comparable global ranks for Iraq in 2003, the Taliban in 2001 and Iran in 2026 remain unverified in the official U.S. government sources verified for this edition.

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