‘FALSE!’ CENTCOM Posts Fact-Check Over Iran’s Claim About Dead Service Members

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U.S. Central Command posted a “fact check” on Sunday, right before the U.S. military launched a new barrage of strikes against Iran at 5:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.

“CLAIM: Iranian propaganda claimed today that three American service members were killed in Kuwait by strikes from Iran. FALSE,” said the CENTCOM post that came at 4:27 p.m. ET.

The post continued, “TRUTH: There are zero reports of U.S. service member deaths or injuries in the region. All personnel are accounted for.”

About a half hour after the “fact check,” CENTCOM wrote, “At 5 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The Commander in Chief has directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable.”

Those escalating strikes come after Iran violated the ceasefire under the agreed-to Memorandum of Understanding, by striking a Cyprus-flagged container ship on Saturday. The U.S. responded by striking Iran on Saturday and again Sunday.

One civilian crew member remained missing after the commercial ship GFS Galaxy was hit by an Iranian strike in the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump called in to NBC News’s Meet The Press Sunday morning to talk about the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, but he did give some insight into the situation in the strait.

Host Kristen Welker asked if the strait was open as CENTCOM maintained, or closed as the Iranians insisted.

“It’s open, and I don’t want to talk about it because I want to honor the life of Lindsey Graham,” Trump said. “So, I don’t want to talk about it. I told you that before the call,” Trump told Welker, before launching into a discussion on Iran.

“It’s open. We bombed the hell out of them last night. They’re very, very evil and sick people. We had meetings with them for the last — they agreed to a deal yesterday. It’s a perfect deal for us. No nuclear, no this, no that, no nothing. They gave up everything. And then after that, they left the room. And then within an hour, they launched a drone at a ship. I said, “You people are sick. You’re sick people.” And so, it’s one of those things. I don’t want to talk about it. I want to talk about one person today, Lindsey Graham.”

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