Trump downplays US troops’ injuries in Iran missile attack

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump acknowledged that Americans were hurt in an Iranian missile barrage to retaliate for the US killing of a top general, and said the injuries were “not very serious.”
“I heard they had headaches,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday during a press conference at the conclusion of a two-day trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “I can report it’s not very serious.”
Trump said he learned of the injuries among US service members days after the Iranian counterstrike against US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, which inflamed tensions between the US and Tehran.
Trump’s comments — in response to a reporter’s question — followed a bilateral meeting on Wednesday with Iraqi President Barham Salih on the sidelines of the Davos summit.
Tensions in the region were largely left on the back burner during Trump’s event in Switzerland, where the US president has
focussed on touting his economic record as counter-programming to the Senate impeachment trial that got under way in Washington.
Soleimani’s killing in Baghdad earlier this month prompted calls from Iraqi lawmakers for US troops to leave the country, but Trump said he’d only do so if Iraq repaid costs related to a joint airbase. An Iranian counterstrike didn’t kill any Americans, but experts have warned about the possibility of retaliation from Iranian proxy groups.