US President Donald Trump on Friday described the six-month-old US conflict with Iran as “small potatoes” and defended Vice President JD Vance’s decision not to call the fighting a war.
Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump said US strikes on Iran have become “intermittent” and that many people do not consider the conflict a war.
“I can understand what he’s saying,” Trump said of Vance, adding that he preferred to describe it as a “military conflict.”
The conflict has cost US taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and killed 18 US service members. The US and Israel have conducted airstrikes against Iran but have not sent ground troops into the country.
Vance, during a White House briefing Thursday, said he would not describe the fighting as a war and declined to predict whether it would end before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when Republicans are seeking to retain their narrow congressional majorities.
“Right now, there is no active shooting,” Vance said.
His remarks came despite Iran launching an attack against US ally Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for US strikes on Iran earlier in the week.
Trump said the US military death toll in the Iran conflict remained relatively low compared with previous US wars. He cited the 18 US deaths against much higher losses in Vietnam and other conflicts.
According to the US National Archives, 58,220 US service members died during the Vietnam War.
When asked how he could call the conflict “small potatoes” despite the deaths of 18 US troops, Trump repeated his claim that the US campaign has severely weakened Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did you probably wouldn’t be standing here,” Trump said.
Trump also compared the Iran conflict with the US military operation in Venezuela in January, which resulted in the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his transfer to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges.
The president had initially said the Iran conflict would last only a matter of weeks, but the fighting has now continued for about six months.