Tehran / Washington — The human cost of Operation Epic Fury is coming into stark focus as U.S. and Israeli officials privately estimate that more than 1,000 Iranian combatants have been killed in just a few days of strikes targeting Revolutionary Guard units, missile forces and air‑defence networks.

According to Western intelligence briefings, the majority of fatalities come from IRGC missile brigades, drone operators and air‑defence crews caught in a rolling campaign of stealth air raids and cruise‑missile attacks stretching from the Gulf coast to the outskirts of Tehran and Isfahan. Several elite units tasked with firing on Israel and U.S. bases are believed to have lost a quarter to half of their personnel.

The Pentagon argues the high combatant toll shows the campaign is “hitting precisely the people and systems launching this war,” insisting efforts are made to avoid civilian areas. Israel frames the numbers as proof that its jets are “surgically dismantling” Iran’s strike network before it can reload.

In Tehran, however, the regime is weaponising the same figures in the opposite direction. State TV hails the dead as “martyrs of Epic Fury,” broadcasting nonstop funerals and fiery speeches calling for unlimited revenge. Hardline clerics insist that “the more they kill, the more we must strike,” even as exhausted IRGC commanders struggle to plug gaps in battered units.

Analysts warn the mounting body count may be driving both sides into a deadly feedback loop: Washington and Jerusalem cite losses to claim military success; Tehran cites them to justify ever wider retaliation — and the space for any political off‑ramp is shrinking with every report of fresh dead.