Lutnick apologizes over Iran deaths claim
Friday, 4 September 2026 09:48
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick apologized on X on Thursday after falsely saying during a CNBC interview at a G20 summit in Chapel Hill that no Americans had died in the Trump administration’s war with Iran, CNN Politics reported.
Lutnick made the remark while defending the war, saying, “the way the president is playing Iran, right, there haven’t been American deaths. It’s really just an economic chokeout which the administration is now executing more broadly, and I think it’ll be very effective.”
Eighteen US service members have died since the US first attacked Iran in February, and hundreds more have been wounded. Lutnick said in his X post that he had “misspoke” and confused the six-month war in Iran with the administration’s prior hours-long invasion of Venezuela.
“While speaking yesterday at the G20 innovation summit about AI, I answered a question about the military actions in Iran, I misspoke,” Lutnick wrote. “I was thinking about the Venezuelan military operation where no service members died.” He added, addressing the families of those killed, that “my heart breaks and I am so very sorry for their loss.”
President Donald Trump sought to downplay the matter early Thursday, writing on Truth Social: “Sec. Lutnick had Venezuela on his mind when nobody was killed. 18 people were killed in Iran!” Lutnick issued his public apology roughly 45 minutes later.
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