Lutnick Apologizes for Incorrect Claim on U.S. Deaths in Iran Conflict

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick issued an apology on September 3, 2026, after mistakenly claiming that no American service members had died in the ongoing conflict with Iran. The error occurred during a television interview the previous day, where he stated, "The way the president is playing Iran there haven't been American deaths, it's really just an economic chokeout." The statement was factually incorrect, as 18 U.S. military personnel have died in the conflict. Lutnick made the remarks on CNBC on September 2 while attending the G20 finance summit in North Carolina. Following immediate backlash, he clarified his error in a post on the social platform X. "I misspoke. 18 members of our military have died, and to those families my heart breaks and I am so very sorry for their loss," Lutnick wrote. He explained that he had been thinking about a separate military operation in Venezuela, where no service members had died. President Donald Trump defended his Commerce Secretary before the apology was issued. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, "Sec. Lutnick had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed.