As the USA and Israel’s battle on Iran enters its seventh month with no clear finish in sight, President Donald Trump has develop into the most recent US official to downplay the battle.
On Friday, Trump mentioned the battle, which has resulted within the deaths of 18 US service members and a spike in international power costs, is “small potatoes”.
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“It’s not an enormous factor,” Trump mentioned, evaluating strikes on Iran with different US army campaigns, together with the January 3 operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“We did Venezuela, and we did this. In Venezuela, we misplaced no one. On this, we misplaced 18 folks.”
His remarks got here at an Oval Workplace signing occasion, the place reporters requested him to weigh in on remarks from Vice President JD Vance.
A day earlier, at a White Home information briefing, Vance appeared to recommend the battle had cooled, regardless of a current alternate of intense fireplace between US and Iranian forces.
“I wouldn’t name it a battle. Proper now, there is no such thing as a energetic taking pictures,” Vance mentioned, arguing that main fight operations solely lasted six weeks. He then added, “I recognise there have been locations the place this has flared up.”
Trump on Friday instructed reporters there was “a whole lot of fact” to what Vance mentioned. He opted to model the combating as a “army battle”.
“We do intermittent strikes,” Trump mentioned, including: “We’re not combating proper now. There’s no combating. We’re taking out a whole lot of oil. We management the Hormuz Strait. We management it very strongly.”
For the reason that battle started on February 28, Trump has used numerous phrases to keep away from calling the battle a battle.
Prior to now, he has known as the combating with Iran a “little skirmish”, a “little detour” and a “little tour, a few weeks, few weeks of tour”.
“It’s an tour that may preserve us out of a battle,” Trump mentioned in March.
Specialists say such terminology is probably going strategic. The Trump administration has confronted pushback for not looking for congressional approval earlier than launching its strikes on Iran.
The US Structure grants Congress the unique energy to declare battle, although successive presidencies have taken unilateral army actions with out the legislature’s approval. Authorized students have repeatedly questioned the legality of these manoeuvres.
In June, each chambers of Congress handed a war powers resolution, calling on Trump to both cease his army marketing campaign towards Iran or search congressional authorisation for it.
The decision was largely symbolic, although it did sign rising bipartisan opposition to Trump’s battle on Iran.
Because the battle enters its seventh month, it stays broadly unpopular within the US.
A ballot released on Monday by the Reuters information company and the analysis agency Ipsos discovered that almost six in 10 US adults disapproved of the army strikes on Iran.
Because the midterm elections strategy in November, and peace talks stay deadlocked, the president’s remarks seem designed to minimise the battle’s influence internationally.
The battle has led to assaults throughout the Center East, and gas costs stay excessive. Within the US, the American Car Affiliation (AAA) says the typical gas value is $4.15 per gallon (3.8 litres), up practically a greenback from final 12 months.
The Trump administration, nonetheless, has lengthy argued the battle and its results could be short-term.
It has additionally signalled that it intends to double down on its financial stress marketing campaign towards Iran, which has lengthy confronted US sanctions.
In August, Trump pledged on Reality Social to pursue the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY”.
This week, his administration announced new sanctions geared toward reducing off the nation’s entry to the worldwide monetary system.
On Friday, Trump additionally didn’t rule out additional assaults, suggesting the US might “very quickly” strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a army web site close to the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Natanz was bombed in June 2025 and once more in the course of the present battle.
A current alternate of strikes this month resulted in Iran firing on US army bases throughout the Center East. The US, in the meantime, was accused by the Iranian authorities of bombing a wedding celebration within the coastal metropolis of Sirik, killing not less than 4 folks.
Whereas the way forward for the battle is unsure, Trump mentioned he was happy with its progress.
“I don’t suppose it issues what you name it,” Trump mentioned. “What issues is you’ve had super success.”
