US President Donald Trump on Friday described the ongoing conflict involving Iran as “small potatoes” for the United States, while backing Vice President JD
Vance’s assessment that the months of intermittent fighting in the Middle East should not be characterised as a “war”. Trump was asked about Vance’s remarks from a day earlier, when the vice president argued that the repeated US military strikes against Iran did not amount to a traditional war. Trump said he understood Vance’s position and similarly referred to the situation as a “military conflict”. “I can understand what he’s saying,” Trump said during an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. Trump added that US strikes against Iran had become “intermittent” and sought to downplay the scale of the conflict. “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing,” Trump said. Trump backs Vance’s description Vance had argued on Thursday that the US military campaign against Iran should not necessarily be described as a war, pointing to the intermittent nature of the attacks. Trump’s comments appeared to reinforce that position, as he defended his administration’s description of the conflict while acknowledging the continuing US military operations. The remarks come despite the significant human and financial costs associated with the US involvement. According to the Associated Press, the conflict has cost US taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and resulted in the deaths of 18 US service members. Trump’s characterisation of the conflict as “small potatoes” therefore stands in contrast to the substantial resources committed by Washington and the American military casualties reported since the fighting began. US-Iran conflict continues The Trump administration has continued to carry out intermittent military strikes against Iranian targets, while tensions in the region remain high. Trump’s latest remarks also underline the administration’s effort to distinguish the current military campaign from a conventional war. By calling it a “military conflict”, the president has adopted language that reflects the administration’s position that the US is engaged in limited and intermittent operations rather than an all-out war. The comments are likely to fuel further debate over how the US involvement in Iran should be defined, particularly as military operations continue and the human and financial costs mount.
