Trump backs Vance’s Iran stance, calls months-long fighting a ‘military conflict’

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump on Friday, September 4, backed Vice President JD Vance’s decision not to describe the months-long US conflict with Iran as a 'war,' instead calling it a 'military conflict.'

Trump said the fighting had become intermittent and described the conflict as 'small potatoes' for the United States. The president also defended the length of US military deployments, saying the operation had prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Trump backs Vance on Iran war label

When asked about Vance’s comments a day earlier, Trump said he understood the vice president's position and argued that the level of fighting did not warrant calling the conflict a war. “I can understand what he’s saying,” Trump said. “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing.”

Trump said the US strikes against Iran had become intermittent and noted that there had been periods without active fighting. He compared the 18 US service members killed in the conflict with American casualties in previous wars, including Vietnam and Afghanistan.

However, when a reporter challenged Trump over describing the fighting as 'small potatoes' despite the deaths and 'record-long' deployments, the president defended the military's continued presence.

Trump replied seemingly furious, “Why is it record-long? So, how long were we in Vietnam? We were in five months there (Iran), and you know what we did in five months? They're not going to have a nuclear weapon. That's what we did, because if they did you probably wouldn’t be standing here.”

Trump also defended the length of the deployments by comparing them with the duration and casualties of earlier US conflicts. The president said that the military had repeatedly targeted Iranian radar and other capabilities and maintained that US forces had significantly weakened Iran's ability to threaten the region.

Trump also pointed to operations involving the Strait of Hormuz, saying US forces had removed mines from the waterway and were helping ships move through the strategic route.

JD Vance rejects war label as Iran fighting continues

Vance had previously rejected the description of the conflict as a 'war' during a White House briefing on Thursday, September 3, when he was asked whether the fighting could be over before the November midterm elections. “I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vance said. “Right now, there is no active shooting.”

Vance acknowledged that fighting had recently “flared up” but said major combat operations were not currently underway. He also declined to predict when the conflict would end, saying the administration could not set an artificial deadline while Iran continued attacking commercial shipping.

“You’re asking me a question like when will the Iranians stop shooting at ships?” Vance said. “I think the reality is I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians.”

The comments came after a renewed round of fighting this week. On Tuesday, September 1, the US military carried out roughly 100 strikes against Iranian targets, which the administration said were in response to threats against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has continued retaliatory attacks in the region, including an attack on US Gulf ally Kuwait.