Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s National Security Council, claimed that his country has been holding American soldiers captive since the war began last week.
The comments were posted on social media platform X on Saturday, in which Larijani suggested the United States was hiding the seized items.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“We have received reports that several American soldiers have been captured,” Larijani wrote.
“But Americans claim they were killed in action. Despite futile efforts, the truth cannot be hidden for too long.”
However, the US military quickly refuted this claim with its own statement.
“The Iranian regime is doing everything it can to spread lies and deceive. This is another clear example,” U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said in response to Larijani’s post.
A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) also echoed Hawkins’ denial in a statement to Al Jazeera Arabic.
“The Iranian regime’s claims that it has detained American soldiers is another example of lies and deception,” the spokesperson said.
At least six U.S. troops have been killed since the war began on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched a joint offensive. US President Donald Trump’s administration named the military operation “Operation Epic Fury.”
Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported this week that an estimated 1,332 people have been killed in the war since last week. The death toll includes around 180 children killed in a school strike in the southeastern city of Minab.
A New York Times analysis suggests that the school was attacked by the United States. However, President Trump criticized Iran in response to questions from reporters aboard the presidential plane, Air Force One.
“From what I saw, it was done by Iran,” he said Saturday.
President Trump spent the day shuttling between his resort in South Florida, where he was entertaining South American officials, and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the bodies of the slain soldiers were transferred.
All six were killed in an Iranian drone attack on a Kuwaiti port on March 1, the day after the war began.
The U.S. military identified the dead soldiers as Declan Cody, Jeffrey O’Brien, Cody Koch, Noah Tietjens, Nicole Amor and Robert Marzan.
“It’s a very sad day. I’m glad to be able to pay my respects. It’s tough. It’s a tough situation,” Trump said after a “dignified transfer” ceremony on Air Force One.
Still, he sounded upbeat about the war itself, saying its progress was “as good as it can be.”
President Trump said of Iran: “We are winning the war in a big way. We have destroyed their entire evil empire.”
President Trump has not yet ruled out sending U.S. troops to Iran. In an interview with the New York Post last Monday, President Trump declined to commit either way.
“Every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground,’ but I don’t say that,” he told the magazine.
President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials have also warned that the U.S. death toll could continue to rise.
“I expect there will be casualties, but ultimately it’s going to be big for the world,” Trump said in a phone call with NBC News.
He estimates the war could last four to five weeks.
The war has divided President Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, with some expressing dissatisfaction with the president’s recent military attacks.
Critics said Trump campaigned for re-election on a promise not to wage “endless wars.”
“Honestly, I can’t believe you’re doing this again,” conservative media host Megyn Kelly wrote on social media on Friday, responding to reports that President Trump is considering a “ground war” on Iran.
Meanwhile, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized President Trump for betraying his “America First” campaign promise.
“Trump and his administration have betrayed their campaign promises of no more foreign wars and no more regime change,” Taylor Greene wrote Wednesday, warning of a voter backlash during the midterm elections.
“We voted for America First, which means America First and Americans Only,” she added.
A poll conducted Friday by news agencies NPR and PBS and research firm Marist found that a majority of Americans do not support war.
Of the 1,591 adults surveyed, 56% opposed the conflict.
“Based on all the polling data we’ve seen in the last week, this is an unpopular war,” Al Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett said.
“Most Americans believe this is unacceptable. And given the fact that six Americans have now been killed and their bodies are being returned to the United States, it is also unacceptable in terms of the potential loss of life.”
