U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick apologized Wednesday after claiming during an interview that no Americans had died in the ongoing Iran war, a statement that is directly contradicted by Pentagon figures showing 18 U.S. military personnel have been killed and more than 750 wounded since the conflict began.
The false claim came during an interview with CNBC, as reported by Reuters. Lutnick told the network there had been no American deaths in Iran. The conflict has involved military operations. He later apologized for the statement.
The interview happened on the sidelines of the G20 Innovation Ministerial at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, according to The Assembly NC. Lutnick was in town hosting global tech and trade ministers, an event Hoodline previously covered when tech leaders including Sam Altman and Jensen Huang landed in Chapel Hill for the summit. Earlier the same day, Lutnick had announced that all 20 G20 nations endorsed the Carolina Principles, a non-binding framework favoring light-touch AI regulation, per Quartz.
Two Wars, One Mix-Up
The operation Lutnick says he was picturing, Operation Absolute Resolve, was a January 3 raid in which elite U.S. forces captured Maduro without a single American combat death, though seven service members were injured, according to AP News reporting cited in the dossier. That stands in stark contrast to Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran that began February 28 following strikes on Iranian leadership and military infrastructure, per Military Times. The first American combat deaths in that war came just days later, on March 1, when an Iranian drone strike hit a command post at the Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait, killing six U.S. Army reservists.
Pentagon figures put the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iran at 18. Lutnick later apologized for stating that no Americans had died in the war, according to the same Reuters report.
A War That Has Cost Far More Than Lives
The financial toll of Operation Epic Fury has also drawn scrutiny.
The war has also fueled domestic political friction. In late April, a bipartisan coalition of 63 former Cabinet officials, governors, and lawmakers sent Congress a joint letter urging lawmakers to reassert their Article I war-making authority as the conflict crossed the 60-day mark under the War Powers Resolution — a push Hoodline detailed in its report on a war powers showdown involving former Rep. David Price. That same month, military veterans and family members staged a sit-in at the Cannon House Office Building rotunda on Capitol Hill, protesting American casualties and demanding oversight, an episode Hoodline covered as vets in cuffs during the demonstration.
Lutnick's Wealth and Commerce Record Under Scrutiny
Lutnick's financial standing has also drawn attention.
As Commerce Secretary, Lutnick has also overseen policy shifts under which the federal government began acquiring equity stakes in private semiconductor firms receiving CHIPS Act research and development funding, a push Hoodline reported on when the Commerce Department took equity stakes in chip firms. Those initiatives, alongside his role steering trade policy, have kept Lutnick at the center of the administration's economic messaging even as questions mount over his account of the Iran war's human cost.
According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, the government provided financial aid to three large firms in the 1970s to avert potential bankruptcies, totaling about $7 billion. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the federal government has previously established boards to implement financial assistance efforts, including assistance provided to Lockheed.
