Cabinet official wrongly says no Americans died in Iran war
Commerce Secretary Lutnick's claim of "economic choke-out" with no US deaths was corrected by Trump — 18 troops have been killed
WASHINGTON (MNTV) — U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has apologized for falsely claiming no Americans had died in the war with Iran, an error that exposed the gap between the administration’s economic framing of the conflict and its mounting human toll.
Lutnick, discussing bond markets on CNBC, described the administration’s Iran strategy as an “economic choke-out” and asserted “there haven’t been American deaths.”
In fact, 18 U.S. service members have been killed since the U.S. and Israel first struck Iran on Feb. 28, and hundreds more wounded. President Donald Trump publicly corrected his own commerce secretary on Truth Social — “18 people were killed in Iran!” — attributing the mistake to Lutnick confusing Iran with January’s operation in Venezuela, where U.S. forces captured President Nicolás Maduro with no troops killed. Lutnick then said he “misspoke.”
The episode drew attention because the administration has faced scrutiny over how it discloses casualties; in July, four deaths and dozens of injuries briefly disappeared from a Defense Department website.
The war’s toll extends well beyond U.S. troops. Iranian authorities said recent U.S. strikes killed 18 people and wounded 108, and the Iranian Red Crescent said a U.S. strike near the Strait of Hormuz hit a wedding, killing four including a child and wounding 67; Reuters reported satellite imagery confirmed the damaged building’s location.
U.S. Central Command said it does not target civilians and was reviewing the reports — but its capacity to assess civilian harm has been cut, with the Pentagon’s civilian-protection office reduced from about 40 staff to nine and a civilian-harm-tracking database abandoned.
The campaign had cost at least $37.5 billion by July, and a UMass Amherst poll found 54 percent of Americans disapprove of the war, with one in six Trump voters saying they would change their 2024 vote.
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
