Trump minimizes the conflict with Iran and calls it 'something minor'

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that the conflict with Iran is “small potatoes” (a minor matter), while defending Vice President JD Vance for asserting that months of intermittent attacks in the Middle East do not constitute a “war.”

Asked in the Oval Office about comments made by Vance the previous day, Trump noted that U.S. attacks against Iran are now “intermittent” and appeared to downplay the intensity of a conflict that has cost American taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. military personnel.

“I can understand what he means,” Trump said. “I call it a military conflict because for us it’s a minor matter. It’s not a big deal.”

On Thursday, during a press conference at the White House, Vance declined to use the word “war” to describe the fighting between the United States and Iran and avoided predicting that the six-month-old conflict would end before the November congressional elections, in which Republicans are seeking to retain their narrow majorities in Congress.

“I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance said when asked whether the fighting might end before voters head to the polls in the November 3 congressional elections. “There are no active shots being fired right now.”

Vance’s statement came despite Iran’s attack on Kuwait, a U.S. ally in the Gulf, on Thursday, in retaliation for several rounds of U.S. attacks against Iranian territory carried out earlier in the week.

Trump added on Friday that the number of Americans killed in the conflict with Iran is relatively small compared to other recent wars in which the United States has participated. The United States, along with Israel, has conducted only airstrikes in the war against Iran, which began on February 28, and has not deployed troops on the ground.