The Trump administration’s attempt to cover up an Iranian cruise missile strike failed this week when the Pentagon quietly added eight Marines injured in the Sept. 14 attack to its casualty database, nearly two weeks after the vessel they were operating on was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
Most congressional Republicans have voted at least seven times against resolutions that would end the unprovoked and unauthorized war, so the fumbled cover-up adds to the embarrassment associated with the incompetent prosecution of violence and its domestic consequences, such as rising gasoline prices.
The Sept. 14 strike injured seven enlisted Marines and one officer, who suffered smoke inhalation and symptoms consistent with traumatic brain injuries, including headaches, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military information. None of the injuries were considered serious, and all eight returned to duty shortly after the attack.
The Marines were part of a battalion landing team operating aboard a vessel that was not a U.S. Navy ship, the officials said. They declined to identify the vessel or describe its mission.
The Defense Department did not publicly announce the attack.
Instead, the casualties were added Wednesday to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the Pentagon’s public database of military casualties.
A U.S. official attributed the delay to symptoms that can appear later and the database’s lack of real-time updates. U.S. Central Command declined to comment.
The strike brings the total number of service members wounded in action during the Iran war to 861, according to the Pentagon database. Nineteen service members have died in the conflict, which began in late February.
The disclosure comes as President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 32 percent — the lowest of his political career — according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Sept. 21. A CNN/SSRS poll released two days later found Republican approval of the conflict had dropped to 60 percent from 73 percent in March.
The war’s political toll is particularly acute in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, home to one of the nation’s largest concentrations of military veterans. Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot, faces Democrat Elaine Luria, also a Navy veteran, in a rematch that polls show is deadlocked at 47 percent each.
VoteVets, a Democratic-aligned veterans’ advocacy group, has pledged to spend heavily to support Luria, part of a planned $60 million effort on 331 Democratic candidates nationwide — the organization’s largest investment since its founding in 2006.
Kiggans has voted seven times against resolutions that would end the war or require congressional approval to continue it. But at a recent campaign rally, she made no mention of either Trump or Iran, focusing instead on veterans’ benefits and attacking Democrats as too far left.
“Iowa is in play because we helped put it in play,” VoteVets co-founder Jon Soltz said. “If Democrats take back the Senate, it could be because of Iowa.”
The group has spent $9.7 million in Iowa’s Senate race and is adding $4.5 million to ads targeting Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson over her support for the war. Hinson this week called for an “immediate end” to the conflict after previously voting against halting it.
Similar shifts have emerged in other key races. In Michigan, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said in a campaign video that “the war with Iran needs to end and end quickly.”
The political fallout extends beyond elected officials. Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln recently raised concerns about conditions after nearly 300 continuous days at sea on combat and blockade duty. Navy figures obtained by CNN show eight crew members attempted suicide during that period.
At the American Legion post in Norfolk, Navy veteran Derrick Johnson, who served in the Strait of Hormuz during Desert Storm, said the war is straining the veteran community.
“You promise a thing when you’re going up for election,” Johnson said. “You promise not to pull us into any wars. And I feel like that hasn’t happened.”
Kris Kunkel, 69, a Navy veteran who voted for Trump in the past three presidential elections, said he will not vote in November — something he has never done before.
“I’m just done. I’m tired of thinking you can vote people in and things will change,” Kunkel said. “For me, it’s the war.”
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