Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Sep 5: US President Donald Trump has described the ongoing conflict with Iran as “small potatoes,” while defending Vice President JD Vance's decision not to refer to the months-long fighting as a “war.”
Asked about Vance's comments during an Oval Office exchange on Friday, Trump said US strikes on Iran had become intermittent and argued that many people did not consider the confrontation a war.
“I can understand what he’s saying,” Trump said, describing the confrontation as a “military conflict” and adding that it was “small potatoes” for the United States.
The conflict has reportedly cost US taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and resulted in the deaths of 18 US service members.
Vance, during a White House briefing on Thursday, rejected the use of the term “war” for the US military campaign against Iran. He also avoided predicting whether the six-month-old conflict would end before the November 3 midterm elections, when Republicans will seek to retain their narrow majorities in Congress.
“I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance said when asked whether the fighting could end before voters head to the polls. He said there was “no active shooting” at present.
Vance's remarks came despite Iran firing at Kuwait, a US ally in the Gulf, on Thursday in retaliation for a series of US strikes on Iran earlier in the week.
Trump also compared the US death toll in the Iran conflict with casualties from previous American military engagements. He noted that the United States and Israel have relied on air strikes in Iran and have not deployed ground troops inside the country.
Trump referred to the January US operation in Venezuela, in which former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured and taken to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges, saying no US personnel were killed in that operation.
He contrasted the 18 US deaths in the Iran conflict with the much higher casualties suffered during the Vietnam War and other major US military engagements. According to the US National Archives, 58,220 US service members died during the Vietnam War.
When questioned about calling the conflict “small potatoes” despite the deaths of 18 US service members, Trump reiterated that the military campaign had severely weakened Iran's nuclear programme.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did you probably wouldn’t be standing here,” Trump said.
The comments come as uncertainty continues over the duration of the conflict, which began on February 28 and has involved repeated US and Israeli air strikes against Iranian targets and retaliatory attacks by Tehran.