US President Donald Trump said no American service members had been killed in the Iran war over the past five months, despite Pentagon figures showing that 23 US military personnel have died in the Middle East during the conflict.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that aired on Thursday. Defending the US military campaign against Iran, he said: “Nobody’s been killed in the last five months.”
“We haven’t lost a soldier in five months, and we control the Gulf,” Trump said.
However, figures reported by The Washington Post show that the Pentagon has recorded 23 American service member deaths in the Middle East during the war. Of these, 11 were attributed to enemy fire, while 12 were classified as non-hostile deaths.
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US service members died in July incidents
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US service members died in July incidents
{{/usCountry}}The Pentagon's casualty figures include several deaths reported in July, within the five-month period Trump referred to in his interview.
According to The Washington Post's report, three US soldiers were killed in an enemy attack on an air base in Jordan. Another service member died during a controlled drone detonation at an air base in Iraq.
A Navy captain also died during an emergency landing in the Arabian Sea.
According to Washington Post report published on October 29, 865 US troops had been wounded by enemy fire since the war began.
Trump says Middle Eastern countries asked him not to escalate war
In a separate interview with television commentator Stephen A. Smith, Trump said he could bring the war to an end quickly but had not escalated the conflict because other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to take a longer approach.
Describing those countries as “tremendous investors” in the United States, Trump said they preferred his current strategy.
“I could end it immediately, but at the request of the nations that I’m looking to protect, we are doing it a little bit longer way,” he said.
“All of them would much prefer the waiting period. … So, they’ve asked me to do that. … I’m not sure I agree with it,” Trump added.
The comments came as Trump defended the US approach to the conflict in two interviews that aired on Thursday. The Pentagon's reported casualty figures provide a record of American military deaths during the war, including those classified as non-hostile.