WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pentagon delivered its unreleased annual report on civilian casualties to members of Congress on Tuesday. U.S. military operations in 2025 resulted in the deaths of 153 civilians and wounded nearly 250, according to the official assessment. The review covers U.S. air and naval strikes conducted under Operation Rough Rider, including operations in Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and maritime strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The Department of Defense confirmed that U.S. attacks likely killed or wounded hundreds of civilians during 2025. The assessment, formally known as the Section 1057 Civilian Casualty Report, compiles findings on alleged civilian harm from military actions and is submitted annually to the Armed Services Committees in Congress. The report includes incidents from operations in Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and maritime interdiction campaigns.

The review reflects a backlog of incidents from the Trump administration’s strikes against Yemen’s Houthi leadership in the spring of 2025. According to a senior defense official, the report determined that three incidents 'likely' caused civilian casualties. An additional 15 attacks remain under active review, the official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the report publicly.

One strike was responsible for the deaths of 68 people, a second defense official confirmed. The official declined to specify the location or date of the attack, citing operational sensitivities.

The Pentagon’s review found no civilian deaths resulting from the Trump administration’s maritime interdiction operations. However, the administration has claimed without providing evidence that the more than 220 individuals killed in these boat strikes were 'narcoterrorists.' During a classified briefing in the fall of 2025, a high-ranking officer on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff indicated that some of those killed in the initial strike on September 2, 2025, may have been victims of human trafficking.

U.S. Central Command stated it continues to assess all reports of civilian harm from operations during that period. Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May that one civilian casualty investigation remains active out of 13,629 munitions expended. CENTCOM acknowledged the U.S. strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, which killed more than 150 people, most of them children, as the sole confirmed incident of civilian harm in the current conflict.

The report does not include data from the U.S.-led war on Iran that began in February 2025, as it only covers military actions from calendar year 2025. Civilian harm reports were documented daily from the war’s start on February 28 until the first ceasefire on April 8, according to Airwars, a U.K.-based air strike monitoring group. The World Health Organization estimated the death toll in Iran reached 3,375 before the ceasefire collapsed last month.

Independent assessments indicate higher casualties. The Yemen Data Project reported at least 238 civilians killed and 467 injured in U.S. and coalition operations. Amnesty International documented an attack on an immigrant detention center in Yemen that resulted in dozens of Ethiopian civilian casualties, with no combatants among the dead or injured. Experts have described more than 120 civilian deaths from the previous year as extrajudicial killings or outright murder, though these figures are not included in the Pentagon’s official tally.