Trump downplays Iran conflict as minor operation, dismisses war implications

President Donald Trump has backed up comments from his vice president and insisted the Iran conflict is a relatively minor operation, rather than a full-on war.

"I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us," the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. "It's not a big thing."

When pressed by Rachel Scott of ABC News about the record-setting deployments of certain service members as part of the fight, the president lashed out, repeatedly asking, "How long were we in Vietnam?"

President Trump claimed the U.S. had successfully stopped Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and alleged U.S. satellite intelligence would spot any future threats from the country the moment they arose. The U.S. had "essentially taken over" Iran, the Republican said.

The question of whether the fight is a war has profound implications.

The widow of John A. Klinner, an airman killed as part of the campaign against Iran, alleges she has been denied some military benefits because the Trump administration has not formally declared war.

"As much as our heart breaks, I can't possibly fathom a young widow, what she's feeling, and dealing with it," Vance said Thursday when asked about the situation.

"We very much take very seriously our commitment to get you what you need to get," he added.

Bipartisan critics allege the president has ignored the Constitution and War Powers Act by continuing the fight against Iran without congressional authorization. Both houses have approved resolutions demanding the president seek clearance.

The president dismissed the Senate's June vote on the war as "poorly timed and meaningless."

During his comments on Friday, the president also downplayed the centrality of the Hormuz Strait, another important aspect of the war.

The president claimed that new pipelines, shipping routes and overland oil transport would replace the key waterway, which is a major global oil hub.

"The Hormuz Strait is not what it used to be," Trump said.

Iran has used its proximity to the strait to hamstring global oil trade and continues to exert leverage over the U.S., though the president claimed the waterway was dwindling in importance.

"They're going to end up with a Hormuz Strait that's not very necessary anymore," he said.