Iran Acknowledges Deaths of 1,500 Military Personnel Near Missile Launchers

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has announced that approximately 1,500 Iranian military personnel were killed during military confrontations with the United States and Israel, saying they had been operating near missile launchers.

Iranian state media quoted Pezeshkian as saying that “the military personnel who were killed had been stationed at the launchers”. He added that some had spent months inside the shelters from which missiles were launched, without leaving or returning home.

Pezeshkian’s remarks concern military personnel serving at Iranian missile launch sites. According to reports, these facilities came under US and Israeli attack during the war, with strikes targeting launchers inside underground missile bases as well as mobile launchers deployed above ground.

During the twelve-day war last June, as well as the confrontations that lasted forty days, Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles towards Israel and other countries in the region.

Separately, the Iranian judiciary’s spokesman had previously announced that the forty-day war had killed a total of 3,519 people, without providing a breakdown of military and civilian deaths.

Pezeshkian’s remarks did not specify the exact period during which the 1,500 military personnel were killed. Nor did they provide further details about where the deaths occurred or how the announced toll was calculated.