President Donald Trump on Friday said the conflict in Iran is "small potatoes" as he defended Vice President JD Vance for asserting that months of on-and-off attacks in the Middle East are not a "war." Asked during an Oval Office exchange about Vance's comments made a day earlier, Trump noted that U.S. strikes on Iran are now "intermittent" and seemed to downplay the intensity of a war that's cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37. 5 billion and left 18 U.S. service members dead.

"I can understand what he's saying," said Trump.

He added, "I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing." Vance on Thursday, during a White House press briefing, rejected the use of the word "war" to describe the U.S. fighting with Iran and steered clear of predicting that the 6-month-old conflict would be over by November's midterm elections, in which Republicans are trying to hang on to their narrow majorities in Congress.