LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Lawmakers are seeking answers about the war in Iran from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The White House is asking for a nearly $90 billion funding boost, most of that for military operations in Iran. In a few minutes, we'll speak with one of the senators set to question Hegseth, Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut. It's been more than two months since Hegseth testified on the Hill, and the Pentagon hasn't briefed reporters since May.
FADEL: Here with more is Quil Lawrence from NPR's national security team. Good morning, Quil.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: So what else do we know about the U.S. casualties at this point?
LAWRENCE: This Iranian attack on a joint U.S.-Jordanian airbase on Friday killed two soldiers. Another is missing and believed dead. There was another drone-related casualty at a U.S. base in northern Iraq over the weekend. I spoke with three former U.S. military officials about this new and rapidly evolving reality of drone warfare. One of them was General Joseph Votel, who formerly led CENTCOM. He said the U.S. had built up power in the region by building these bases.
JOSEPH VOTEL: Our strengths for the last several decades has been our forward deployment and our positioning across the Gulf that has reassured partners and put us in a position where we could be responsive to things. But now we are seeing that that same advantage has turned into a little bit of a disadvantage in the face of missiles and especially drones. It has also highlighted a significant vulnerability.
LAWRENCE: So in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy had no real range or air power. But now in the age of drone warfare, Iran doesn't even really need an air force because its drones can travel 1,000 miles and hit U.S. bases all over the region.
FADEL: Does it mean anything that after three months, there were suddenly three, perhaps four casualties over the weekend? Has something changed?
LAWRENCE: Just that for 10 nights now, Iran and the U.S. have been escalating tit-for-tat bombardments. Iran has stepped up attacks. It's possible they just got lucky or that the U.S. had been very lucky so far. General Votel said that while any death is tragic, these numbers seem low considering the waves of missile and cheap armed drones that Iran's been throwing at these U.S. targets.
Anyone comparing these wars to Iraq and Afghanistan, the casualties here are an order of magnitude smaller, and there aren't ground troops involved. But one similarity is that there isn't a clear cause or goal that can help the American people understand why these troops have died. You know, one of the servicewomen who died on Friday, she was just 19.
FADEL: That's so young. We mentioned the Pentagon hasn't briefed on the war since May. Is the Pentagon purposely withholding information from the public, including on the wounded?
LAWRENCE: A U.S. military official who is not authorized to speak publicly confirmed with NPR that the Defense Department has been slow-walking information on casualties. And just this week, the Pentagon spokesman admitted after questions from journalists that 100 service members have been injured in the last - just in the last two weeks. He said the vast majority recovered quickly and went back to work. It's also not clear how much damage has been done to these bases. There's concern in Congress about the rapid depletion of U.S. munitions, which is something Hegseth is bound to get questions about today.
Three former military officials I spoke with said that the Pentagon's poor communication has caused a lack of trust. One said, you know, they just don't have much credit. General Votel pointed out that it's not only credit with the American people and Congress, but the U.S. has been leaving key regional allies in the dark, and they're the ones who are bearing the brunt of all these Iranian attacks.
FADEL: NPR's Quil Lawrence. Thank you for your reporting, Quil.
LAWRENCE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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