President Trump downplayed injuries sustained by U.S. troops when Iran retaliated for the killing of top commander Qassem Soleimani while explaining why he originally said there were no injuries.
“I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I can report it is not very serious,” Trump told reporters at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said last week that 11 U.S. troops received treatment for concussions after Iran launched several ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases housing U.S. forces. The attack was in response to the killing of Soleimani, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of service members in Iraq.
Defense officials said Tuesday that additional troops had been flown out of Iraq for medical treatment in Germany.
“I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen,” Trump said. “I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war. … I don’t consider that to be bad injuries.”
