The Lies Are Piling Up --- And Americans Are Dying

The Lies Are Piling Up — And Americans Are Dying

Opinion | April 6, 2026

By Joe Perez

There is a pattern here. It is not subtle. And it is time to call it what it is.

Since the United States launched Operation Epic Fury on February 28, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have constructed an elaborate fiction about how this war is going. They have done it openly, repeatedly, and without shame. And with every passing week, reality keeps dismantling their story — one downed aircraft, one covered-up casualty, one debunked claim at a time.

The "Total Air Dominance" Lie

At a March 4 briefing, Hegseth declared the US would have "complete control of Iranian skies" — calling it "uncontested airspace" and adding "Iran will be able to do nothing about it." (CNN) Trump went further. Just days before two US warplanes were shot down, Trump stood at the White House and declared: "They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100% annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force." (ABC News)

Then Iran shot down an F-15E Strike Eagle and an A-10 Warthog on the same day.

Trump had also repeatedly said Iran had "no navy," "no military," "no air force," and "no anti-aircraft systems." Those claims had already been contradicted multiple times before the jets went down. (CNN) This was not a miscalculation. This was a lie told directly to the American people, in prime time, to calm markets and suppress opposition to a war that the American public is strongly against. (Bloomberg)

The Casualty Cover-Up

The lies don't stop at the battlefield. They extend to the body count.

The Pentagon has been sending outdated casualty statements resulting in undercounts. At least 15 US troops have been killed and over 520 wounded — figures CENTCOM has refused to clarify, in what a defense official called a "casualty cover-up." (The Intercept)

When the first deaths were reported, Trump's response was chilling. He told NBC: "We expect casualties, but in the end it's going to be a great deal for the world." Then he added: "That's the way it is. Likely be more." Hegseth then attacked the media for reporting on dead soldiers, suggesting coverage of their deaths was an effort to make Trump "look bad." (CNN)

These are America's sons and daughters. Their deaths are not a PR problem.

The Rescue Mission — What Really Happened

After the F-15E went down, Trump declared the rescue operation the "most daring in US history" and boasted that not a single American was killed or wounded. That was false. US officials cited by the Washington Post confirmed that Iranian forces opened fire on two Black Hawk helicopters, wounding service members aboard. (The Times of Israel)

Trump had also falsely blamed Iran for a strike on an elementary school that a preliminary investigation later determined was likely struck by the United States itself. (CNN)

And hovering over the entire rescue operation is a question the administration has not answered: Iran's foreign ministry stated publicly that "the possibility that this was a deception operation to steal enriched uranium should not be ignored," noting the claimed location of the downed pilot was far from where US aircraft actually landed. (Wikipedia) The White House has offered no explanation for that discrepancy.

This Is What Lying in Plain Sight Looks Like

Trump has always bent the truth. But lying about a war — about who is dying, how many, and why — is a different category of deception. It puts lives at risk. It prevents the public from making informed judgments about whether this conflict is worth its cost. And it dishonors every service member who has bled or died in Iranian territory while their commander-in-chief is on Truth Social declaring total victory.

In his first national address on the Iran war, Trump offered no serious explanation of why he started it, when it will end, or how anyone should define victory. (Slate) Five weeks in, those questions still have no answers.

The lies are not a side effect of this war. They are its operating system.