U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while hosting a dinner in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 2, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump on Friday snapped at an ABC News reporter after she challenged him for dismissing the deadly conflict in Iran as “small potatoes.”
ABC’s Rachel Scott asked Trump why Vice President JD Vance refused to call the conflict a war even as the United States resumed strikes.
“A lot of people don’t call it a war,” Trump said while taking questions in the Oval Office. “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.
While Trump acknowledged that 18 Americans had died, he compared the death toll with previous wars as he grew angry before Scott pushed back.
“It certainly doesn’t feel like small potatoes,” she said. “Eighteen service members have died. We’re seeing record-long deployments.”
“Why is it record-long?” Trump roared back. “How long were we in Vietnam? How long were we in Vietnam?”
“We’re in five months now — and you know what we did in five months?” Trump continued. “They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. That’s what we did.”
Trump then dropped a warning while defending his war that has dragged on for over six months.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, because if they did, you probably wouldn’t be standing here very long,” he told Scott.