Trump calls Iran conflict ‘small potatoes’ and says it’s not a war
President Donald Trump said the conflict in Iran is “small potatoes” as he defended vice president JD Vance for asserting that months of on-and-off attacks in the Middle East are not a “war”.
Asked during an Oval Office exchange about Mr Vance’s comments made a day earlier, Mr Trump noted that US strikes on Iran are now “intermittent” and seemed to downplay the intensity of a war that has cost US taxpayers more than 37.5 billion dollars and left 18 US service members dead.
“I can understand what he’s saying,” said Mr Trump.
He added: “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.”
Mr Vance on Thursday, during a White House press briefing, rejected the use of the word “war” to describe the US fighting with Iran and steered clear of predicting that the six-month-old conflict would be over by November’s midterm elections, in which Republicans are trying to hang on to their narrow majorities in Congress.
“I wouldn’t call it a war,” Mr Vance said after being asked during a White House press briefing about whether the fighting could end before voters cast their ballots in the November 3 congressional elections.
“Right now, there is no active shooting.”
Mr Vance’s assertion came even as Iran fired at US Gulf ally Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for rounds of US strikes on Iran earlier in the week.
Mr Trump in Friday’s exchange with reporters added that the US death toll in the Iran conflict is relatively lower than some other recent US wars.
The US, along with Israel, have only carried out air strikes in the Iran war, which began on February 28, and has not deployed troops into the country.
“We did Venezuela and we did this. In Venezuela, we lost nobody,” said Mr Trump, referring to the January US military operation to seize former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and spirit him to New York City to face federal drug trafficking charges.
“And this, we lost 18 people. And, in Vietnam we lost 100,000 people. And in other conflicts, we lost tens of thousands of people.”
A total of 58,220 members of the US armed forces died during the Vietnam War, according to records from the US National Archives.
Pressed by a reporter on describing the conflict as “small potatoes” when 18 US service members have been killed, Mr Trump responded by reiterating his argument that the conflict — one that he said at the outset of the war would last a matter of weeks — has led to the defanging of Iran’s nuclear programme.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did you probably wouldn’t be standing here,” Mr Trump said.
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Of course. It’s a special military operation.
My thoughts exactly. Trump was too stupid not to learn from the mistake his buddy Putin made. This potentially could be a forever war. He needs to be removed from office asap.
Dismissing that war as “small potatoes” shows that Trump knows he isn’t winning. So he loses face and downplays the whole fiasco. However many nations reliant on free access to Gulf outputs are squeezed and his own country suffers due to the effects on global markets. He may have secured lines of supply elsewhere but inflation in USA hurts the public. In the meantime Iran suffers but still has capacity to strike back and make fun of him.
All those school girls he murderd were “small potatoes”.
The mans depravity is bottomless.
Destroying a school full of school children is certainly not a bunch of small potatoes for the families they left behind. This malevolent evil orange guy has the moral compass provided by Iblis.
The Islamist Iranian regime has been murdering democracy protesters for months now. I feel that many are so blinded by their hatred of the Orange Horror that they are almost wilfully forgetting them. Anyway, one positive thing is that it is hurting the Iranian economy which in turn cuts off funds for Hamas, Hezbollah etc.
Don’t fall for everything that Western MSM tells you, look at the way they spread Misinformation propaganda about the WMD in Iraq and as a consequence the entire Middle East was destabilised by the Anglo American invasion.
One thing is for certain the Iranian people don’t want The Zionist Fan Boy of LA Pahlavi.The Iranian People couldn’t get rid of his Father quick enough in the Iranian Revolution.
Yes there has been social unrest in Iran but this has been instigated by outside forces of Mossad and The CIA.
The world economy is under pressure for this one senile old sod whe went to war and had had his butt handed him on a plate and out in place a far worse regime and one that now know the US can be played and that also means us.
hamas said they would disarm. Bibi said not happening and carried on murdering.
The Iranian regime maybe awful but that does not give the US the right to intervene. Far right militias exist in Ukraine, does that justify Russia invading it? No!! Read the UN Charter before making silly comments!!
Trump and Vance need to spend some time on the front line. Let’s see if they call it “small potatoes” then. It does not affect them as it’s someone else’s sons and daughters he sends to war while he jaws his absurd words and big talk from a safe distance.
He won’t mind going into a conflict zone without Secret Service detail to show everyone how safe it is in that case. Go on Donald. Show us all how brave and strong you are. Watch out for land mines.