Iran’s top security chief Ali Larijani has stunned viewers by claiming on Iranian TV that several American soldiers have been “taken prisoner” in the ongoing U.S.–Iran war, directly contradicting Washington’s insistence that all missing U.S. troops were killed in action. Tehran is portraying the alleged captures as one of its biggest battlefield wins and a personal humiliation for Donald Trump, while U.S. officials dismiss the claims as Iranian propaganda designed to sway global opinion and rattle American domestic politics. ​