Trump claims fallen soldiers said 'we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon'
President Donald Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday to attend a dignified transfer of U.S. service members killed in the war in Iran.
"We're going to Dover, some of you are going with us, to honor our heroes. And they are indeed great heroes, actually," Trump told reporters just before boarding Air Force One to travel to Dover.
The president said the dignified transfer ceremony is "one of the hardest things to do as a president but it has to be done."
Trump then proceeded to defend the war in Iran, claiming that "all" of the fallen soldiers had echoed his war aims.
"All of them said very strongly, 'We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,'" Trump claimed.
It's not the first time Trump's used fallen service members to fit his justification for this war.
On April 1, in a primetime address, he spoke about the two dignified transfers he attended in March, saying of those fallen service members: "We salute them, and now we must honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their lives. And every single one of the people, their loved ones, said, 'Please, sir, please, finish the job.' Every one of them. And we are going to finish the job, and we're going to finish it very fast."
Trump's comments Wednesday come after he posted on social media a comparison of the number of American deaths in the Iran war so far with the number of fallen service members in prior American conflicts, in what appeared to be at attempt to downplay the fatalities in this war so far.
When asked on Wednesday what he would say to the families of the fallen, Trump said he'd tell them they're loved.
"All I'm going to say is, we love you. We love your child, and that's what they are to them. They're their children. There's no games, no nothing. That's their child. And all you can do is throw out your heart," Trump said before boarding Air Force One.
At an event later Wednesday in Marietta, Georgia, Trump introduced the family of 1st Lt. Tyler J. Feehan, one of those killed in Iranian attacks, who he said he gave a ride from Dover on Air Force One.
Wednesday's ceremony was the third dignified transfer Trump has attended since the start of the Iran war.
Overnight, the Pentagon identified the third person believed to have been killed in action during Friday's Iranian strike on a U.S. base in Jordan as Army Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York.
Two other American soldiers died in the Iranian attack on the U.S. base: Pfc. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, and Feehan, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii.
A fourth soldier, Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, died Sunday following the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian attack drone at Erbil Air Base in Iraq, the Army said.
Since the U.S. war in Iran began in late February, at least 18 soldiers have been killed and roughly 500 wounded, according to the Department of Defense.
Fighting has intensified after a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran reached in mid-June broke down. There has now been 11 consecutive nights of strikes.
Col. Jamil Musa, Commander, 436th Airlift Wing, Dover Air Force Base, and CMSgt. Elijah Edwards, Command Chief, 436th Airlift Wing, Dover Air Force Base, greeted the president upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine also attended the dignified transfer.
