Donald Trump referred to the situation with Iran as “small potatoes” for the United States, which led a reporter to question him about the number of people who had died.
During an executive order signing in the Oval Office on Friday, a reporter asked, “The vice president said yesterday he wouldn’t call the conflict with Iran a war, but the U.S.
has launched strikes for the first time in recent weeks. Can you explain to the American people, if this isn’t a war, what exactly is it?”
Trump responded, “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 deal. We did Venezuela, and we did this. In Venezuela, we lost nobody, and in this we lost 18 people. In Vietnam, you lost 100,000 people, and in other conflicts, you lost tens of thousands.”
He added, “I would say that it’s intermittent.
You know, we do intermittent strikes. So I heard what he said, and it was interesting because I think there is a lot of truth. We are not fighting right now. There is no fighting. We are taking on a lot of oil. We control the Hormuz Strait. We control it very strongly.”
“I would say that it’s intermittent,” Trump said. “You know, we do intermittent strikes, so I heard what he said, and it was interesting because I think that there is a lot of truth. We are not fighting right now. There is no fighting. We are taking on a lot of oil. We control the Hormuz Strait. We control it very strongly.”
Trump continued:
TRUMP: We did a hit on certain areas around the Hormuz Strait. We took out their radar, as you know. You know that very well. We took out some aircraft. We took out some other things that protect, for them used to protect the Hormuz Strait when they had it under very tight control, but now we control it and we are taking out — last night we took a lot of boats. A lot of ships come through, and they come through every day, so I can understand what he is saying. It is a military conflict, but it is very intermittent. I could see somebody not calling it a war.
REPORTER: It certainly doesn’t feel like small potatoes. Eighteen service members have died. We’re seeing record-long deployments. You initially said this would last —
TRUMP: Record long? Why is it record-long?
REPORTER: The 82nd airborn —
TRUMP: How long were we in Vietnam? How long were we in Vietnam?
REPORTER: We’re seeing record — The U.S. Abraham Lincoln —
TRUMP: No, How long were we in Vietnam? We’re at five months now. And you know what we did in five months? They are not going to have a nuclear weapon. That’s what we did. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did, you probably would not be standing here very long.
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