Trump shrugs off Iran conflict, calls it 'small potatoes'

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday called the conflict in Iran “small potatoes” during an Oval Office exchange in Washington. He defended Vice President JD Vance, who had said the fighting is not a “war.” Trump said the strikes are intermittent, the conflict has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and killed 18 U.S. service members, and Iran will not get a nuclear weapon.

Vance said during a White House press briefing on Thursday that he would not call the fighting with Iran a war and said there was no active shooting.

The conflict began on Feb. 28 and has involved only airstrikes by the United States and Israel, with no troops deployed into Iran.

Trump said the U.S. death toll is lower than in some past wars and compared the conflict with the Vietnam War, which he said killed 100,000 Americans in his remarks.

Trump said the conflict has led to the defanging of Iran’s nuclear program and argued that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

Published Sep 5, 2026 4:34 pm KST

U.S. President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One at Morristown Airport, Sept. 4, in Morristown, N.J. AP-Yonhap

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday 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 Vance’s comments made a day earlier, Trump said U.S. strikes on Iran are now “intermittent” and “a lot of people don’t call it a war." The conflict has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 U.S. service members dead.

“I can understand what he’s saying,” said Trump. He added: “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing."

Vance, during a White House press briefing Thursday, rejected the use of the word “war” to describe the U.S. fighting with Iran and steered clear of predicting that the 6-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,” Vance said after being asked about whether the fighting could end before voters cast their ballots in the Nov. 3 elections. “Right now, there is no active shooting.”

Vance’s assertion came even as Iran fired at U.S. Gulf ally Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for rounds of U.S. strikes on Iran earlier in the week.

Trump in Friday's exchange with reporters added that the U.S. death toll in the Iran conflict is relatively lower than some other recent U.S. wars. The U.S. and Israel have only carried out air strikes in the Iran war, which began Feb. 28, and have not deployed troops into the country.

“We did Venezuela and we did this. In Venezuela, we lost nobody,” said Trump, referring to the January U.S. military operation to seize former Venezuelan President Nicolás 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 U.S. armed forces died during the Vietnam War, according to records from the U.S. National Archives.

Pressed by a reporter on describing the conflict as “small potatoes" when 18 U.S. service members have been killed, 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 program.

“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did you probably wouldn’t be standing here,” Trump said.

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周五在华盛顿椭圆形办公室与副总统约翰·万斯交谈时，称伊朗冲突是“小事一桩”。他为万斯辩护，万斯此前曾表示，这场冲突并非“战争”。特朗普称，袭击是间歇性的，这场冲突已耗费美国纳税人超过375亿美元，并造成18名美军士兵丧生，而且伊朗不会获得核武器。

万斯周四在白宫新闻发布会上表示，他不会将与伊朗的冲突称为战争，并称没有发生枪战。

冲突始于2月28日，目前仅涉及美国和以色列的空袭，没有向伊朗部署军队。

特朗普表示，美国的死亡人数低于过去一些战争，并将这场冲突与越南战争进行了比较，他在讲话中称越南战争造成 10 万美国人死亡。

特朗普表示，这场冲突已经削弱了伊朗的核计划，并声称伊朗不会拥有核武器。

发布于2026年9月5日下午4:34（韩国标准时间）

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普9月4日在新泽西州莫里斯敦机场走下空军一号。（美联社-韩联社）

华盛顿——美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周五表示，伊朗冲突是“小事一桩”，他为副总统JD·万斯辩护，后者声称，中东地区数月来断断续续的袭击并非“战争”。

在椭圆形办公室与特朗普就前一天万斯的言论进行交流时，特朗普表示，美国对伊朗的打击现在是“间歇性的”，而且“很多人不称之为战争”。这场冲突已耗费美国纳税人超过375亿美元，并造成18名美国军人死亡。

“我能理解他的意思，”特朗普说。他补充道：“我称之为军事冲突，因为对我们来说这只是小事一桩。这算不上什么大事。”

万斯周四在白宫新闻发布会上拒绝使用“战争”一词来描述美国与伊朗的冲突，并且没有预测这场持续了6个月的冲突会在11月的中期选举前结束，共和党人正试图保住他们在国会的微弱多数席位。

当被问及冲突是否会在11月3日大选投票前结束时，万斯说：“我不会称之为战争。目前，没有发生枪击事件。”

就在万斯发表上述言论之际，伊朗于周四向美国海湾盟友科威特开火，以报复美国本周早些时候对伊朗发动的多轮空袭。

特朗普在周五与记者的交流中补充说，美军在伊朗冲突中的死亡人数相对低于美国近期参与的其他一些战争。自2月28日伊朗战争爆发以来，美国和以色列仅进行了空袭，并未向伊朗部署军队。

“我们搞了委内瑞拉，也搞了这次。在委内瑞拉，我们没损失任何人，”特朗普说道，他指的是今年1月美国军方逮捕委内瑞拉前总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗并将其押送至纽约市，面临联邦毒品走私指控的行动。“而这次，我们损失了18人。在越南，我们损失了10万人。在其他冲突中，我们也损失了数万人。”

根据美国国家档案馆的记录，在越南战争期间，共有 58220 名美国武装部队成员阵亡。

当记者追问特朗普为何在18名美国军人丧生的情况下仍将这场冲突描述为“小事”时，特朗普重申了他的论点，即这场冲突——他在战争开始时曾表示这场冲突只会持续几周——已经削弱了伊朗的核计划。

“伊朗不会拥有核武器，因为如果他们有核武器，你们可能就不会站在这里了，”特朗普说。