President Donald Trump on Friday backed Vice President JD Vance's characterization of the ongoing U.S. confrontation with Iran as not amounting to a war, calling the hostilities a "military conflict" and "small potatoes" for Washington.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump was asked to clarify Vance's "not a war" remark made a day earlier. "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 thing," Trump said. He added, "I can understand what he's saying," and "I could see somebody not calling it a war."

Trump noted that U.S. strikes on Iran are now "intermittent," explaining that the United States is carrying out strikes rather than engaging in continuous fighting. The conflict, which began on Feb. 28, has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 U.S. service members dead, according to reports.

Vance, at a White House press briefing on Thursday, rejected the use of the word "war" to describe the fighting with Iran. "I wouldn't call it a war," Vance said when asked whether the conflict could end before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. "Right now, there is no active shooting." He avoided predicting whether the six-month-old conflict would conclude before voters cast their ballots, as Republicans seek to retain their narrow majorities in Congress.

Vance's assertion came even as Iran fired at U.S. Gulf ally Kuwait on Thursday in retaliation for rounds of U.S. strikes on Iran earlier in the week.

Trump, during Friday's exchange, argued that the U.S. death toll in the Iran conflict is relatively lower than in some other recent U.S. wars. "We did Venezuela, and we did this. In Venezuela, we lost nobody," Trump said, referring to the January U.S. military operation to seize former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and bring him to New York City to face federal drug trafficking charges. "And this, we lost 18 people. And, in Vietnam, we lost 100,000 people. And in other conflicts, we lost tens of thousands of people."

Records from the U.S. National Archives show that 58,220 members of the U.S. armed forces died during the Vietnam War, a figure Trump's remark of "100,000 people" appears to exceed.

The U.S., along with Israel, has carried out only air strikes in the Iran conflict and has not deployed troops into the country, according to reports. Trump said the conflict has led to the "defanging" of Iran's nuclear program. "Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did, you probably wouldn't be standing here," he told reporters.

Trump also claimed that the United States currently controls the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically vital waterway for global oil supplies. "There's no fighting. We're taking out a lot of oil, we control the Hormuz Strait, and we control it very strongly," Trump said. He added that U.S. forces had conducted strikes on areas around the strait, destroying radar installations, aircraft, and other military assets that had protected Iran's position there.

The remarks come amid ongoing U.S.-Iran hostilities that have seen periodic strikes and retaliatory actions, with no ground deployment by U.S. forces. The conflict's trajectory remains uncertain as the midterm elections approach.