President Donald Trump said Friday that the Iran war was "small potatoes" for the United States, in his administration's latest bid to play down the conflict ahead of crucial midterm elections.
Trump's comments came a day after Vice President JD Vance said that "I wouldn't call it a war" despite an upsurge in clashes between Iran and the United States over the Strait of Hormuz.
"A lot of people don't call it a war. I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about Vance's remarks. "It's not a big thing. We did Venezuela, and we did this," added Trump, who was surrounded by cattle ranchers invited for the signing of two executive orders on beef processing.
The six-month-old war in which 18 US troops and thousands of Iranians have died has reached a stalemate, with Tehran disrupting shipping traffic in the strategic waterway.
But with fuel prices threatening to cost Trump's Republicans their control of Congress in November's midterms, his administration has been trying to minimize the conflict.
Trump said the US was carrying out "intermittent strikes" but that "we're not fighting right now."
He reiterated his claims that the United States effectively controlled the Strait of Hormuz and had decimated Iran's military. "What we've done is amazing. We took over Venezuela and we have essentially taken over Iran", through military operations, Trump said.
Pressed on calling the war "small potatoes" when 18 service members died, an increasingly irate Trump compared the Iran war to the years-long US wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
"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," he said.
JUST IN: President Trump agrees with VP JD Vance in refusing to call the months-long U.S. military action in Iran a war, instead calling it a "military conflict" and describing the whole thing as "small potatoes" to the United States.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 4, 2026
"Well, I'll tell you what. A lot of people… pic.twitter.com/sV1O7GjLC7
Asked about when the Iran war would be resolved, Trump said he did not know, and that the US “already won the big thing” and that he wanted to leave. “If we left today, it would take them 25 years to rebuild their country. But I want to leave so the next president doesn’t have to worry about it,” he told reporters.
Trump said China has had minimal involvement in Iran and that the construction of pipelines is making the Strait of Hormuz “not very necessary anymore”.
“I said ‘please don’t get involved’ to President Xi … there’s very little involvement from China,” Trump said, noting that Beijing gets most of its oil from the Strait of Hormuz, adding pipelines are being built to transport oil through Syria rather than the waterway.
“A lot of alternatives are being made to the Hormuz Strait … Iran is going to end up with a Hormuz Strait that is not very necessary anymore. Pipelines are being built all over the Middle East so they (oil tanker) don’t have to go through the Hormuz.”
Trump also hinted at a possible strike on an Iranian nuclear facility, while reiterating that Washington has stopped Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “We may hit Pickaxe [Mountain] very soon if there’s anything going on with Pickaxe,” Trump emphasized, referring to an underground Iranian nuclear facility.
Trump said that he called the Iran campaign a “military conflict” as opposed to a war. “A lot of people don’t call it a war, I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us, it’s not a big thing,” he said and added “I would say that it’s intermittent, we do intermittent strikes.”
Trump reiterates that the Strait of Hormuz is under US control and that oil is flowing out of the waterway.
Explosions in Kharg Island
Iranian media on Saturday reported several explosions near the country's major oil hub of Kharg Island in the Gulf, days after renewed fighting broke out with the United States.
Fars news agency said blasts were heard by its correspondent but that there was no smoke visible, while the SNN news agency claimed "an Iranian tanker was targeted by the US" near the island.
There was no immediate comment from US or Iranian officials.
Fighting between the foes resumed last Sunday with US attacks on Iran as their war passed its six-month mark.
The American strikes prompted retaliatory attacks by Tehran on US targets in the Middle East.
Iran said Thursday that its armed forces had hit US military bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, vowing to avenge civilian deaths at a wedding that it blamed on Washington.
The two sides also remain vying for control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with Iran blocking the passage of ships as Washington maintains a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
Israel 'has responsibility' to ensure safety of Palestinians
The US ambassador to Israel said Saturday that the Israeli government has a responsibility to ensure the safety of Palestinians in the West Bank after a sharp rise in settler attacks.
"One of the messages that we have been sending and we will continue to send is that people in these communities have a right to live with a level of security and safety, and that the government has a responsibility to make sure that that happens," Ambassador Mike Huckabee told reporters as he met Palestinian-Americans in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Pezeshkian says Iran will foil enemy plans
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the US and Israel aim to create division within the country “through war, siege, and sanctions”.
“We, by relying on unity, empathy, and national cohesion, will neutralize these plots,” he was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.–Agencies
پزشکیان: دشمنان با جنگ، محاصره و تحریم، به دنبال ایجاد اختلاف، شکاف و آشوب در داخل کشور هستند و ما نیز با تکیه بر وحدت، همدلی و انسجام ملی، این نقشهها را خنثی خواهیم کرد pic.twitter.com/GLB48ZfQFA
— خبرگزاری ایسنا (@isna_farsi) September 4, 2026