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SAT 3 OCT 2026
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BreakingSAT., OCT. 3, 2026 • VIDEO REPORT

Trump Says U.S. Has Lost 18 Service Members During Iran War

At a midterm campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama, the president said 18 U.S. service members have been killed in the more than six-month conflict with Iran.

Based on reporting by Fox News

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Video thumbnail: Trump Says U.S. Has Lost 18 Service Members During Iran War 1:39
18Service members killed
6+Months of conflict
1 NIGHTHis nuclear claim

What happened

President Donald Trump said Friday that 18 U.S. service members have been killed during the more than six-month conflict with Iran, a figure Fox News reports is reflected across the Pentagon’s separate casualty categories.

“Iran, we’ve lost 18 incredible people, 18 and we’ve been there for a little more than six months,” Trump said during a midterm campaign rally at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama.

Trump also sought to clarify previous remarks about accomplishing his objectives against Iran within weeks, saying that timeline referred to preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He said he did that “in one night,” adding, “The B-2 bombers took him out.”

Trump argued that damage inflicted by U.S. strikes would take Iran years to rebuild, and said Iran should have negotiated: “They played their cards. They played their cards too tough.”

Newstro reports facts and attributes every statement. Photos marked “file photo” are not from the events described.

The Newstro report

▶ Watch this report on YouTube

Read the transcript click a paragraph to jump to it in the video

Trump’s key claims

  1. Trump said 18 service members have been killed in a little more than six months. Fox News reports the figure is reflected across the Pentagon’s separate casualty categories.

  2. Trump said earlier remarks about accomplishing his objectives within weeks referred to preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

  3. He said he did that in one night, adding, “The B-2 bombers took him out.”

  4. “We could leave tomorrow, and it would take them years to rebuild from what we did to them,” Trump said.

In his words

“Iran, we’ve lost 18 incredible people.”

On the toll

“It would take them years to rebuild from what we did to them.”

On the U.S. strikes

“They played their cards too tough.”

On Iran

Quotes from the rally in Mobile, Alabama, as reported by Fox News.

A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber in flight over the ocean
B-2 SPIRIT BOMBER (FILE PHOTO)

The strikes and the nuclear goal

Trump said his earlier talk of a timeline of weeks referred to preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and that he did that in one night with B-2 bombers.

He argued the U.S. could leave tomorrow and it would take Iran years to rebuild. He said Iran should have negotiated.

B-2Bombers cited by Trump
YearsFor Iran to rebuild, he argued

Sources and credits

Reporting

Fox News — “Trump says US has lost 18 service members during Iran war” (October 2026), on President Trump’s remarks at a midterm campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama, on Oct. 2, 2026.

Photos (Wikimedia Commons)

  • Donald Trump official portrait — Daniel Torok / White House (public domain)
  • B-2 Spirit bomber — U.S. Air Force / Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III (public domain)

Graphics and layout: Newstro. All photos are file images from other dates and events. The video also uses photos of the Pentagon (U.S. Navy, public domain), the University of South Alabama (Tyler Lahti, CC BY-SA 4.0), Mobile, Alabama (James Willamor, CC BY-SA 2.0) and Tehran (Julia Maudlin, CC BY 2.0).