CASUALTY RECORD // April 18, 1988
Operation Praying Mantis
Estimated casualties — killed, wounded, captured, and missing — by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Casualties by side
1 sides catalogued · combined 300 estimated
Iran
300
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
Operation Praying Mantis was a direct U.S. military response to the mining of an American warship in the Persian Gulf four days earlier. Conducted on April 18, 1988, during the presidency of Ronald Reagan and the rule of Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, the operation targeted Iranian naval assets and resulted in approximately 300 Iranian casualties. The action represented one of the most significant direct military engagements between the United States and Iran during the broader Iran–Iraq War period, demonstrating U.S. willingness to use force in defense of freedom of navigation in the Gulf. Its execution under two principal commanders — Rear Adm. Anthony A. Less on the American side and Mohammad-Hossein Malekzadegan on the Iranian side — underscored the operational scale of the confrontation.
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