Trump corrects Lutnick, says 18 killed in Iran, not none
Trump amends Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's casualty comments, saying Lutnick confused Venezuela with Iran, where Trump claims 18 people died.
WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump publicly corrected Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over remarks about casualties, saying Lutnick had confused Venezuela with Iran.
Trump said Lutnick was thinking about Venezuela when he claimed nobody was killed, and Trump put the Iran death toll at 18. The post framed the correction as a clarification of Lutnick’s earlier public comments on the two countries.
Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Sec. Lutnick had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed. 18 people were killed in Iran!” on September 3, 2026 at 7:31 AM ET.
This is Trump’s 3rd message released today, and the last post was 12 minutes ago, and it is not part of a thread. On average, Trump produces 18 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 74 of his 654 posts over the last 30 days classified as Foreign Policy posts.
Howard Lutnick serves as the U.S. secretary of commerce in the second Trump administration, the post referenced in the correction. Trump appointed Lutnick to the post last year according to ABC Online. Before entering government, Lutnick led the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Lutnick has drawn scrutiny in Washington beyond the casualty remarks. He agreed to a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee over his past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein according to ABC Online. Panel chair James Comer said the secretary had “proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform” according to abc.net.au.
President Donald J. Trump corrected Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at Washington D.C.
© copyright Flickr with permission
Lutnick told a Senate committee that he “barely had anything to do with” Epstein according to ABC Online. He said the two men had exchanged about 10 emails and had met three times over 14 years, and he added that he wanted to “set the record straight” according to abc.net.au. He now faces calls from both Democrats and Republicans to resign according to abc.net.au.
The commerce secretary has also figured in cross-border trade friction. Canadian sources described Lutnick as the late-arriving American negotiator who scuppered trade talks with a series of last-minute demands on Canada according to National Post. Those demands reportedly included the United States gaining control over which other countries Canada could do business with, leaving the Canadian side little choice but to walk away according to nationalpost.
Prime Minister Mark Carney told Canadians that he ended the trade talks because the gap between the two countries had grown “too wide in recent days” to strike a deal according to National Post. One Canadian government source said, “It’s almost like they tried to derail the negotiations,” according to nationalpost.
Trump’s post did not provide further detail on the events in Iran or Venezuela, and it did not specify when or where Lutnick made the comments being corrected.
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