In March, 2026, Donald Trump welcomed the caskets of the first U.S. soldiers killed in the illegal and unprovoked U.S.-Israeli war on Iran at a so-called “dignified transfer” in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. But the words he chose to mark the occasion could be characterized as anything but dignified.
“When you have conflicts like this, you always have death,” said Trump, shrugging off the senseless violence the governments under his and Netanyahu’s leadership have wrought from their attacks on the people of Iran over the last month.
In his primetime address in which he attempted to recap the first month of war on Iran, Trump even claimed that the loved ones of servicemembers are universally asking for him to prolong the war, saying “Every single one of the people, their loved ones, said ‘Please sir, please finish the job.’” This seems to fly against the reality of servicemembers’ loved ones that have gone on air characterizing the war as “uncalled for” and calling for it to end.
Yet for a government that understands that the death of working-class soldiers coerced into enlisting by lying recruiters promising economic stability is a given in their wars, there seems to be a hesitancy to be forthright about the numbers of the present war drive against Iran.
The Department of War’s Central Command has so far released casualty counts begrudgingly, misleadingly, or not at all. On March 31st, CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins claimed that “303 U.S. service members have been wounded” in Operation Epic Fury. However, that brazenly failed to include the strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia that happened days prior, which resulted in at least more than a dozen U.S. soldiers injured.
Somewhat surreptitiously, the Pentagon has refused to acknowledge that since October 2023 that 750 U.S. service members have been killed in the Middle East region occupied by CENTCOM forces.
Who covers the cost?
The first week of the war Pentagon head Pete Hegseth held a press conference, where he batted away press inquiries into the human cost. “When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,” Hegseth said. “I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad. But try for once to report the reality. The terms of this war will be set by us at every step.”
And the reality is what the majority of U.S. citizens and journalists are attempting to decipher, in spite of its concealment by Pentagon top brass.
The modus operandi of the Department of War has been to carry out a genocidal bombing campaign on massive population centers such as Isfahan and Tehran. Those cities total a combined 13 million people in the crosshairs of U.S. and Israeli bombing campaigns, and has led to the killings of nearly 2,000 and over 25,000 injured across Iranian society.
In response to this aggression, Iran’s military has responded by striking U.S. military occupying forces in the region, which has built up immensely since the 1979 deposing of the U.S.-backed Shah regime. Instead of holding these positions, the Pentagon has sent their prayers to service members and made them resort to shielding themselves in hotels and office buildings across Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain.
To order the carpet bombing of a powerful country like Iran and then leave servicemembers that carry out these orders to fend and flee for themselves is indicative of the pure cowardice of the capitalist politicians and the generals who carry out their wars. History shows it yields nothing but growing dissent within the ranks of the military.
Working people, enlisted or civilian, living in Washington, D.C. or Tehran, pay the costs of U.S. wars. In an era where the war crimes of the United States and Israel are broadcast into the pockets of billions near instantaneously, imperialism’s ability to wage these wars can be restrained by the rejection of millions of U.S. residents that are waking up to its horrors. Overt war crimes, such as those enacted on the children of Gaza or Tehran in broad daylight, do not go forgotten. The new level of depravity in the Pentagon’s refusal to acknowledge its own losses is another example of why service members should not continue to carry out the orders of Trump or Hegseth.
There is a way out
A growing number of servicemembers are taking action at a record pace. Earlier than any modern war of empire, an interest in conscientious objector status has spiked. The Center on Conscience and War, an organization that advocates for the rights of conscientious objectors and opposes military conscription, has fielded calls through their hotline. Since the beginning of the war on Iran, CCW Executive Director Mike Prysner has reported a 1000% increase in calls. “They’re saying a ground war is inevitable, like this is happening, you better get ready,” says Prysner, illustrating that mandates of compliance are being met with service members seeking a way out no matter what.
This is a moment where all segments of U.S. society must take a stand, including U.S. servicemembers. From the moral to economic costs of this war, the only individuals that benefit from this war are the billionaires that profit off of a bloated war budget. What is needed more than ever is the same anti-war movement witnessed in previous eras, such as the GI movement during the war on Southeast Asia. This organizational force inside the military served as a restraint to further imperialist violence and stood unflinchingly with Vietnamese and Cambodian people before their own ruling class.
If you are in the U.S. military and are interested in seeking discharge or reassignment as a Conscientious Objector, you can call the Center on Conscience and War free of charge at 800-379-2679.
