Pentagon Says 34 U.S. Troops Suffered Brain Injuries From Iranian Missile Strike

Eight U.S. troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) arrived in the U.S. on Friday, according to Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

Hoffman said those troops are among a total of 34 American servicemembers diagnosed with TBI after the al Asad airbase where they were stationed in Iraq was hit by missiles fired by Iran on Jan. 8. The attack was in reprisal for a U.S. drone strike Jan. 3 that killed top Iranian general Qassed Soleimani.

It was at least the third time U.S. officials have had to revise President Trump's Jan. 8 claim that no Americans were injured by the Iranian missile barrage.

"No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime," Trump declared at the White House hours after the Iranian attack. "We suffered no casualties."

The 8 wounded American soldiers who arrived in the U.S. are part of a larger contingent of 18 troops diagnosed with TBI who were initially medically evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Those now in the U.S. will be treated on at out-patient basis either at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. or at their home bases, according to Hoffman.