President Donald Trump has backed up comments from his vice president and insisted the Iran conflict is a relatively minor operation, rather than a full-on war. "I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. The U.S. had “essentially taken over” Iran, the Republican said.
The question of whether the fight is a war has profound implications. Klinner, an airman killed as part of the campaign against Iran, alleges she has been denied some military benefits because the Trump administration has not formally declared war. Bipartisan critics allege the president has ignored the Constitution and War Powers Act by continuing the fight against Iran without congressional authorization.
Both houses have approved resolutions demanding the president seek clearance. The president dismissed the Senate’s June vote on the war as “poorly timed and meaningless.” During his comments on Friday, the president also downplayed the centrality of the Hormuz Strait, another important aspect of the war. The president claimed that new pipelines, shipping routes and overland oil transport would replace the key waterway, which is a major global oil hub.
Iran has used its proximity to the strait to hamstring global oil trade and continues to exert leverage over the U.S., though the president claimed the waterway was dwindling in importance. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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