By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President Donald Trump on Friday labelled the Iran war “small potatoes,” the latest attempt to downplay a six-month conflict that has led to the deaths of 18 American service-members and increase in global oil prices.
“A lot of people don’t call it a war. I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing,” he said in the Oval Office.
A day earlier, Vice President JD Vance said the conflict shouldn’t be termed a “war” since major combat operations ended months ago.
Trump similarly cast the conflict as periodic and low-grade, despite routine rounds of back-and-forth strikes.
“I would say that it’s intermittent. You know, we do intermittent strikes,” Trump said, adding: “There’s a lot of truth that we’re not fighting right now. There’s no fighting.”
This week the US said it had targeted nearly 60 military targets around the Strait of Hormuz, including air defence sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites — while simultaneously escorting ships through the waterway.
Trump himself also raised the prospect of a new operation soon to take out a suspected Iranian nuclear site south of Tehran.
“We may hit Pickaxe very soon,” he said, referring to the underground facility where Iran is believed to have moved some of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
But he still insisted the conflict was not a war. “It’s a military conflict, but it’s very intermittent. I could see somebody not calling it a war,” he said.
He continued: “I don’t think it matters what you call it. What matters is the fact that we have had tremendous success.”
