‘Small potatoes’: US President Trump downplays war on Iran

The president’s remarks could signal a new strategy towards the conflict, focused on minimising its impact.

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on September 4, 2026 [Kent Nishimura/AFP]

As the United States and Israel’s war on Iran enters its seventh month with no clear end in sight, President Donald Trump has become the latest US official to downplay the conflict.

On Friday, Trump said the conflict, which has resulted in the deaths of 18 US service members and a spike in global energy prices, is “small potatoes”.

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“It’s not a big thing,” Trump said, comparing strikes on Iran with other US military campaigns, including the January 3 operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“We did Venezuela, and we did this. In Venezuela, we lost nobody. In this, we lost 18 people.”

His remarks came at an Oval Office signing event, where reporters asked him to weigh in on remarks from Vice President JD Vance.

A day earlier, at a White House news briefing, Vance appeared to suggest the conflict had cooled, despite a recent exchange of intense fire between US and Iranian forces.

“I wouldn’t call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting,” Vance said, arguing that major combat operations only lasted six weeks. He then added, “I recognise there have been places where this has flared up.”

Trump on Friday told reporters there was “a lot of truth” to what Vance said. He opted to brand the fighting as a “military conflict”.

“We do intermittent strikes,” Trump said, adding: “We’re not fighting right now. There’s no fighting. We’re taking out a lot of oil. We control the Hormuz Strait. We control it very strongly.”

Since the war began on February 28, Trump has used various phrases to avoid calling the conflict a war.

In the past, he has called the fighting with Iran a “little skirmish”, a “little detour” and a “little excursion, a couple of weeks, few weeks of excursion”.

“It’s an excursion that will keep us out of a war,” Trump said in March.

Experts say such terminology is likely strategic. The Trump administration has faced pushback for not seeking congressional approval before launching its strikes on Iran.

The US Constitution grants Congress the exclusive power to declare war, though successive presidencies have taken unilateral military actions without the legislature’s approval. Legal scholars have repeatedly questioned the legality of those manoeuvres.

In June, both chambers of Congress passed a war powers resolution , calling on Trump to either stop his military campaign against Iran or seek congressional authorisation for it.

The resolution was largely symbolic, though it did signal growing bipartisan opposition to Trump’s war on Iran.

As the conflict enters its seventh month, it remains widely unpopular in the US.

A poll released on Monday by the Reuters news agency and the research firm Ipsos found that nearly six in 10 US adults disapproved of the military strikes on Iran.

As the midterm elections approach in November, and peace talks remain deadlocked, the president’s remarks appear designed to minimise the conflict’s impact across the world.

The war has led to attacks across the Middle East, and fuel prices remain high. In the US, the American Automobile Association (AAA) says the average fuel price is $4.15 per gallon (3.8 litres), up nearly a dollar from last year.

The Trump administration, however, has long argued the war and its effects would be short-term.

It has also signalled that it intends to double down on its economic pressure campaign against Iran, which has long faced US sanctions.

In August, Trump pledged on Truth Social to pursue the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY”.

This week, his administration announced new sanctions aimed at cutting off the country’s access to the international financial system.

On Friday, Trump also did not rule out further attacks, suggesting the US may “very soon” strike Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, a military site near the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Natanz was bombed in June 2025 and again during the current war.

A recent exchange of strikes this month resulted in Iran firing on US military bases across the Middle East. The US, meanwhile, was accused by the Iranian government of bombing a wedding celebration in the coastal city of Sirik, killing at least four people.

While the future of the conflict is uncertain, Trump said he was pleased with its progress.

“I don’t think it matters what you call it,” Trump said. “What matters is you’ve had tremendous success.”

总统的讲话可能预示着应对冲突的新战略，其重点是最大限度地减少冲突的影响。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普于2026年9月4日在白宫椭圆形办公室发表讲话。[肯特·西村/法新社]

美国和以色列对伊朗的战争已经进入第七个月，而且看不到结束的迹象，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普成为最新一位淡化这场冲突的美国官员。

周五，特朗普表示，这场冲突已导致 18 名美国军人丧生，并造成全球能源价格飙升，但这“只是小事一桩”。

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“这没什么大不了的，”特朗普说，并将对伊朗的打击与其他美国军事行动相提并论，包括1月3日绑架委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗的行动。

“我们做过委内瑞拉的事，也做过这件事。在委内瑞拉，我们没有人员伤亡。而这一次，我们失去了18个人。”

他在椭圆形办公室的签字仪式上发表了上述言论，当时记者们请他对副总统 JD Vance 的讲话发表看法。

前一天，在白宫新闻发布会上，万斯似乎暗示冲突已经降温，尽管美伊军队最近发生了激烈的交火。

“我不会称之为战争。目前，没有发生枪击事件，”万斯说道，并辩称大规模战斗行动只持续了六周。他随后补充道，“我承认有些地方冲突有所升级。”

特朗普周五告诉记者，万斯的话“有很多道理”。他选择将这场冲突定性为“军事冲突”。

特朗普说：“我们进行间歇性打击。”他补充道：“我们现在没有战斗。没有战斗。我们正在夺取大量石油。我们控制着霍尔木兹海峡。我们牢牢控制着它。”

自2月28日战争爆发以来，特朗普一直使用各种措辞来避免将这场冲突称为战争。

过去，他曾将与伊朗的战斗称为“小冲突”、“小插曲”和“小远征，几周的远征”。

“这是一次能让我们避免战争的出访，”特朗普在三月份说道。

专家表示，这种措辞很可能是出于策略考虑。特朗普政府因在对伊朗发动袭击前未寻求国会批准而遭到强烈反对。

美国宪法赋予国会宣战的专属权力，但历届总统都曾在未经国会批准的情况下采取单方面军事行动。法学学者多次质疑这些行动的合法性。

6 月，国会两院通过了一项战争权力决议，呼吁特朗普要么停止对伊朗的军事行动，要么寻求国会的授权。

这项决议在很大程度上是象征性的，但它确实表明两党对特朗普发动的伊朗战争的反对情绪日益高涨。

冲突已进入第七个月，但在美国仍然普遍不受欢迎。

路透社和益普索研究公司周一公布的一项民意调查显示，近六成美国成年人不赞成对伊朗进行军事打击。

随着 11 月中期选举的临近，和平谈判仍陷入僵局，总统的讲话似乎旨在最大限度地减少冲突对世界的影响。

战争导致中东地区袭击事件频发，燃油价格居高不下。在美国，美国汽车协会（AAA）表示，平均燃油价格为每加仑（3.8升）4.15美元，比去年上涨了近1美元。

然而，特朗普政府一直声称这场战争及其影响都是短期的。

美国还表示，将加大对伊朗的经济施压力度，伊朗长期以来一直受到美国的制裁。

8 月，特朗普在 Truth Social 网站上承诺，将对任何国家实施“有史以来最具破坏性的经济行动”。

本周，他的政府宣布了新的制裁措施，旨在切断该国与国际金融体系的联系。

周五，特朗普也没有排除进一步袭击的可能性，暗示美国可能“很快”就会袭击伊朗的皮克克斯山，该军事基地位于纳坦兹铀浓缩设施附近。纳坦兹曾在2025年6月遭到轰炸，并在目前的战争期间再次遭到轰炸。

本月早些时候，双方发生冲突，伊朗向美国在中东各地的军事基地开火。与此同时，伊朗政府指责美国轰炸了沿海城市锡里克的一场婚礼，造成至少四人死亡。

尽管冲突的未来尚不明朗，但特朗普表示他对冲突的进展感到满意。

“我觉得叫什么并不重要，”特朗普说，“重要的是你们取得了巨大的成功。”