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Trump downplays Iran fight
President Donald Trump on Friday described the U.S. conflict with Iran as “small potatoes” and defended Vice President JD Vance’s position that it is not a “war,” during an Oval Office exchange.
“I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.”
Trump said U.S. strikes on Iran are now “intermittent” and told reporters, “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.”
The AP report said the conflict has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 U.S. service members dead, while also noting that the U.S. and Israel have only carried out air strikes and have not deployed troops into the country.
The AP account also said Vance rejected the use of the word “war,” saying, “I wouldn’t call it a war,” and adding, “Right now, there is no active shooting.”
Sanctions and threatened strikes
While Trump and Vance argued over terminology, the BBC reported that the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on a Turkish bank over alleged ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, targeting Golden Global Bank in Istanbul and its branches.
The BBC said the Treasury stated Golden Global Bank “facilitated financial transactions worth tens of millions of dollars” for the IRGC, and it added that the bank denied the allegations and said it had “not conducted any banking transactions that prove” the U.S. government’s claims.
In the same BBC account, Trump described the conflict as a “trivial military clash” and threatened to strike the Iranian Fars Mountain near the Natanz uranium enrichment facility “very soon.”
The BBC also quoted U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying, “Financial institutions are discovering, in a harsh way, how serious we are about economic isolation.”
Envoys, elections, and leverage
Kurdistan24 reported that Trump told reporters at the White House on Sept. 4 that the confrontation with Iran does not amount to a full-scale war and said Washington had fully prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons over the past five months.
“if any activity continues at Kolang Mountain, we may very soon bomb that site too and destroy it”
Kurdistan24 also said Trump warned that “if any activity continues at Kolang Mountain, we may very soon bomb that site too and destroy it,” linking the threat to continued activity at the site.
The AP account placed the debate over “war” language in the context of U.S. politics, saying Vance steered clear of predicting that the 6-month-old conflict would be over by November’s midterm elections.
In a separate Reuters-framed account carried by سكاي نيوز عربية, a White House official said, “We’re continuing to apply pressure on Iran, but November is a priority,” and Reuters sources said White House officials would consider escalating military action after the November 3 vote.