Iran war: Trump calls conflict 'small potatoes'

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he calls the Iran war a “military conflict” and described it as “small potatoes” for the United States, a day after Vice President JD Vance said he would not describe the conflict as a war.

“A lot of people don't call it a war. I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about Vance's comments. “It's not a big thing. We did Venezuela, and we did this.”

Trump said the United States was carrying out “intermittent strikes” but added: “We're not fighting right now.” He also repeated claims that Washington effectively controlled the Strait of Hormuz and had decimated Iran's military.

Asked about calling the conflict “small potatoes” when 18 US service members had died, Trump compared the Iran war with the US wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan.

“I don't think it matters what you call it. What matters is the fact we have had tremendous success. We've stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Vance told a White House briefing Thursday that he “wouldn't call it a war” because “right now, there is no active shooting,” while acknowledging that the conflict had flared up in places.

The comments came amid renewed clashes after several weeks of calm. Iran said Thursday it hit US military bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to avenge a strike on a wedding that it blamed on Washington.

Vance said Washington was investigating the wedding-strike allegation but was skeptical of Iranian state media reporting. The Iranian Red Crescent said a missile attack on the wedding in Kuhestak killed four people, including a child, and wounded more than 50.

The six-month conflict has reached a stalemate, with Tehran disrupting shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The war has killed 18 US troops and thousands of Iranians.

Vance said he did not know when Iran would stop shooting at ships and said Washington would not reopen talks with Tehran until Iran ended attacks on commercial shipping.