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| - In all three instances Trump made such a statement, he appeared to be referring not to people in Iran, as some posts claimed, but to Americans injured or killed by roadside bombs in Iraq — a phenomenon Trump has blamed on militant training programs tied to the Iranian regime.
In March 2026, a purported quote from U.S. President Donald Trump spread online in which he allegedly said U.S. soldiers were "walking around with no legs." Some internet users claimed Trump was referring to the ongoing U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran that began the previous month.
An X post claimed Trump talked about people killed by roadside bombs who "died and are right now walking around with no legs, no arms."
As of this writing, Trump has said people were walking around "without legs" or "with no legs" due to bombs on at least three occasions in March 2026 — on March 5, 6 and 9. As a result, we've rated the claim true.
It's worth noting that in all instances, Trump did not appear to be referring to people in Iran, but rather to U.S. soldiers injured by roadside bombs
In two of the instances, on March 5 and 9, Trump said the Iranian regime was responsible for the bombings that led to people "walking around without legs." A White House spokesperson said he was also referring to the alleged actions of the Iranian regime in his March 6 remarks.
Trump's March 2026 statements
On March 5, while hosting the soccer team Inter Miami at the White House, Trump brought up the Iranian regime's role in hurting U.S. soldiers:
We're destroying more of Iran's missiles and drone capability every single hour, knocking them out like nobody thought was possible. As soon as they set off a missile, within four minutes, the launcher gets hit. They don't know what's happening. But we have the greatest military anywhere in the world. Their navy is gone. Twenty-four ships in three days. That's a lot of ships. Their anti-aircraft weapons are gone. So, they have no air force. They have no air defense. All of their airplanes are gone. The communications are gone. Missiles are gone. Launches are gone, about 60% and 64%, respectively. Other than that, they're doing quite well.
I said, "What's left?" But they're tough and they want to fight and they're calling. They're saying, "How do we make a deal?" I said, "You're being a little bit late." And we want to fight now more than they do. We've had 47 years, depending on the way you count it, but 47 years of horror with this group. And you know when you see somebody walking down the street without their legs, without the arms, whose faces [were] so badly affected and hurt. It mostly came from — 95% [the late Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem] Soleimani and Iran. And other presidents lived with it. I didn't live with it. And so our people are doing a great job. Again, the greatest military anyone's seen. Thank you.
The comments take place at the 4:04 mark of a video of the event Forbes shared on YouTube:
The next day, on March 6, Trump spoke at a White House roundtable on the future of college sports alongside sports figures like golfer Tiger Woods and former college football coach Nick Saban. A journalist asked Trump about what motivated him to focus on college sports given the other issues going on in the world, and Trump began speaking about Iran (emphasis ours):
REPORTER: What is motivating you to do this right now? Because there is a lot of other stuff going on in the world.
TRUMP: That's right. There's a lot. By the way, in Iran we're doing very well. Somebody said, "How would you score it from 0 to 10?" I said, "I'd give it a 12 to a 15." Their army is gone. They're just about — look, their navy is gone. Their communications are gone. Their leaders are gone. Two sets of their leaders are gone, they're down to their third set. Their air force is wiped out entirely. Think of it. They have 32 ships, all 32 are at the bottom of the ocean. Other than that, they're doing very well, very well. Our military is doing phenomenally. That's the big thing for this week. We seem to have a new thing every week. But the situation with a very bad and very sick group of leaders, who were killing a lot of people. A lot of our people were being killed. They were being maimed. They were being destroyed with their bombs all over the place, planted in roads, and we called them the roadside bombs. Walking around without legs, without arms, face blasted. Killed many, many people and we had a choice. We could take it or go on like that for years or do something about it. And we did something about it, and people are very impressed with our military and admire our military.
The remarks occurred at the 1:49:40 mark of a "PBS NewsHour" livestream of the roundtable:
It was not initially clear in this quote who Trump was referring to as a "very bad and very sick group of leaders." A White House spokesperson confirmed to us that he was referring to the Iranian regime, including Iran's Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. In past comments, Trump said Soleimani was the "father of the roadside bomb." Soleimani's Quds Force provided militants in Iraq with training on how to plant bombs that could be disguised on the roadside and used against U.S. troops.
On March 9, while speaking at a Republican gathering in Florida, Trump held a news conference where he brought up roadside bombs again. Trump began by speaking about the Iranian regime (emphasis ours):
In addition to the fact that we've taken out the [Iranian] leadership twice, and maybe three times.
[…]
We think they should put a president in or the head of the country in that's going to be able to do something peacefully for a change. They've been doing this for 47 years, killing people for 47 years. Whether it's the barracks or even the [U]SS Cole where they were involved, very strongly, they always denied it. But they were very strongly involved and all of the people that died through the roadside bombs, died and are right now walking around with no legs, no arms. A face that's been so badly damaged. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terror for 47 years.
Trump made the comments at the 4:05 minute mark of a video of the news conference on Forbes' YouTube channel:
Snopes has extensively covered claims about U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran.
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