The US has denied outlandish claims by Iran‘s de facto leader that American soldiers have been taken prisoner – as he baselessly accused Donald Trump of lying about the number of American military deaths.
Ali Larijani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who many consider the most powerful man Iran after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated, issued a series of outlandish, unverified claims about the conflict on X on Saturday night.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the stories were unfounded, and told Al Jazeera: ‘The Iranian regime’s claims of capturing American soldiers are yet another example of its lies and deceptions.’
They issued the rebuke after Larijani accused Trump of ‘promoting a misleading narrative’ about the six American soldiers killed in Iranian strikes in the week since the war broke out. Larijani previously alleged that the true number of US casualties is ‘over 500.’
‘Then, soon enough, with the passage of time, they gradually increase the number of the dead, under various pretexts, such as incidental accidents or fabricated incidents,’ he said in an X post.
In another post minutes later, Larijani added: ‘Under the pretext of an accident, they will inflate the number of casualties.’
‘It has been reported to me that several American soldiers have been taken prisoner. But the Americans claim that they have been killed in action. Despite their futile efforts, the truth is not something they can hide for too long,’ Larijani said in another post.
Iran’s de facto leader Ali Larijani made the extraordinary claim US soldiers have been captured amid the war in the Middle East and accused Donald Trump of lying about the number of war dead
The Daily Mail has contacted CENTCOM and the US State Department for comment on Larijani’s claims, which he provided no evidence for.
It comes as Trump attended a dignified transfer of the six fallen soldiers in the war with Iran as their bodies returned to US soil on Saturday.
Trump appeared somber as saluted as the six caskets passed by him, his wife First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at Dover Air Force Base.
The caskets carried the bodies of Nicole Amor, 39; Cody Khork, 35; Robert Marzan, 54; Jeffrey O’Brien, 45; Noah Tietjens, 42; and Declan Coady, 20, who died on Sunday during an Iranian attack on Kuwait.
American flags were draped over their coffins as they were carried to a vehicle to be transported to a mortuary facility.
In remarks to reporters on Air Force One after the event, Trump recognized the somber moment, describing it as a ‘very sad day.’
When asked whether the ceremony made him reconsider his aggressive actions in the war, Trump dismissed the notion and said the US was ‘winning the war by a lot.’
Trump said the deaths of US servicemembers was ‘always a very sad thing’, but said their parents were ‘so proud.’
President Donald Trump saluted the six fallen soldiers as they were given their dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware
Soldiers carried their fellow comrades, whose caskets had an American flag overlayed
A large plume of smoke rises over Tehran after explosions were reported in the city during the night on March 7
The president has previously alluded to the likelihood that there will be more US casualties in the war, and asked on Saturday if he thought he would have to attend more dignified transfers, he agreed.
‘I’m sure. I hate to but it’s a part of war,’ he said.
The president met with the soldiers’ families while at the Air Force base.
Trump vowed on Saturday to continue US military action in the Middle East, with Iran sending a barrage of retaliatory rocket fire at US bases across the Gulf.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Iran would be hit ‘very hard’ on Saturday evening.
‘Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time,’ he wrote.