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Iran war is ‘small potatoes’ for US – Trump

From The Punch · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

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  • President Donald Trump described the six-month-old Iran conflict as “small potatoes” for the United States, despite clashes around the Strait of Hormuz and reported casualties.
  • Trump said the United States was conducting intermittent strikes but was not currently fighting, while claiming it had stopped Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
  • The administration has sought to minimize the conflict as fuel prices threaten Republican control of Congress in the November midterm elections.

President Donald Trump called the six-month-old conflict with Iran “small potatoes” for the United States, even as clashes around the Strait of Hormuz have killed 18 U.S. troops and thousands of Iranians, according to the report.

A lot of people don’t call it a war. I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us.

· Donald TrumpTrump characterized the Iran conflict while responding to JD Vance’s comments.

Trump made the remarks in the Oval Office on Friday after Vice President JD Vance said he would not call the confrontation a war. Trump said he preferred the term military conflict, describing it as “not a big thing” and comparing it with U.S. actions in Venezuela.

It’s not a big thing. We did Venezuela, and we did this.

· Donald TrumpTrump sought to minimize the conflict’s scale.

He said the United States was carrying out “intermittent strikes” but “we’re not fighting right now.” Trump also repeated claims that the United States effectively controlled the Strait of Hormuz and had decimated Iran’s military. Tehran has disrupted shipping traffic in the strategic waterway, while the conflict has reached a stalemate.

What we’ve done is amazing. We took over Venezuela and we have essentially taken over Iran.

· Donald TrumpTrump claimed major U.S. gains in the conflict.

The comments came as fuel prices threatened to hurt Republicans in the November midterm elections. The administration has sought to play down the conflict, even as the confrontation continues. When asked about the deaths of U.S. service members, Trump compared the conflict with the longer wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan and said the important point was what he called the United States’ success in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

I don’t think it matters what you call it. What matters is the fact we have had tremendous success. We’ve stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

· Donald TrumpTrump defended his description of the conflict after being pressed about the reported U.S. deaths.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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