US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance participate in a Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday in Arlington, Virginia. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
President Donald Trump honored US service members at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, including the 13 lost in connection with the Iran war.
“In Operation Epic Fury, we lost 13 wonderful souls, wonderful special people. These incredible men and women gave their lives to ensure that the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror will never have a nuclear weapon. Oh, and they won’t. They will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said during Memorial Day remarks.
The family of one of the fallen service members, Capt. Ariana G. Savino — who was aboard a refueling aircraft that crashed in Iraq — was in the audience, and Trump asked them to stand up and be recognized.
As the US president seeks to reach a final agreement to end the war, he projected victory and said the service members will not have died in vain.
“Ariana’s selfless gift will not be in vain. Our debt to you is everlasting, and it’s always going to end in victory. We’re having victories all over the place, more than we’ve had many, many decades,” he said.
Trump touted that the US military “lost no one” in the operation in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro, calling it “a complete and total victory.”
“In two wars recently, we’ve lost a total of 13 service members,” Trump said, referring to Venezuela and Iran.