President Donald Trump said Friday that 18 U.S. service members have been killed during the more than six-month conflict with Iran, a figure reflected in the Pentagon’s various casualty categories.
“In Iran, we lost an incredible 18 people, 18 and we’ve been there a little over six months,” Trump said at a midterm campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama.
Trump also sought to clarify his previous remarks about achieving his goals against Iran within weeks, saying that timetable referred to preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“I did it, but what I said was I would do it, they won’t have nuclear. And I did it in one night. The B-2 bombers took it out, but,” Trump said.
Trump argued that the damage caused by the U.S. strikes would take Iran years to rebuild.
“And we could leave tomorrow, and it would take them years to rebuild after what we did to them, because they just wouldn’t do it. They should have negotiated. They played their cards. They played their cards too hard,” Trump said.
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