Donald Trump has come under scrutiny online after appearing to downplay the deaths of soldiers in the Iran war, while also making various bold claims. Speaking to a reporter, the president began by comparing the duration of other wars involving the U.S. Trump claimed that the U.S. military was engaged in Vietnam for 19 years and Iraq for 12 years.

The president then argued that much of the Iran war has been a “ceasefire” during the past three months. He stated how previous wars have led to “hundreds of thousands of soldiers” losing their lives. However, the wars under the Trump administration have had minimal loss of life. The president stated that in the “war with Venezuela,” there was zero loss of life, while in the Iran war, 13 lives were lost.

While Trump did reiterate that 13 people are “too much,” the Venezuela claim confused some people, as the U.S. and Venezuela have never officially been at war. That said, the relationship between America and Venezuela has been extremely hostile in the past few years, following which Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces earlier this year.

Maduro was charged in March 2026 for “narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.” Trump first announced the capture of the Venezuelan leader on his Truth Social account. Maduro and his wife now face criminal court proceedings in connection with a 2020 indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Since then, Trump claims that the U.S. has been running Venezuela and its “oil,” with Trump loyalist Delcy Rodríguez serving as the acting president of the country, according to the BBC.

Trump told the interviewer how the U.S. is “running Venezuela” and essentially also “running Iran.” However, the claim that Trump ran Iran was criticized as exaggerated, as the internet criticized his claims.

“I don’t think using Vietnam as a goalpost/example is a positive. However, a good example of another war the American people strongly disapproved of,” one user commented on X. “WWII saw the rise of Hitler and a world on fire! Again, not something the people of the world want to see! Who will America be?” 

Another user wrote: “We have essentially taken over Iran? Hmmm. A clearer reading would be that Iran has essentially taken over the Strait.” The user was referring to rising fuel prices due to Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. A third user added: “More of his stellar math skills. Maybe more people get killed the longer a war goes on. And he should probably stop trying to minimize the loss of those 13 lives.”