Trump calls US-Iran confrontation ‘military conflict’, says Washington controls Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump has described the US confrontation with Iran as an intermittent military conflict rather than a fullscale war claiming that Washington controls the Strait of Hormuz and has prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weaponTrump made the remarks when asked about Vice President JD Vances refusal to describe the confrontation as a war even after the United States resumed strikes against IranWell Ill tell you what a lot of people dont call it a war I call it a military conflict because its small potatoes for us Its not a big thing Trump told reportersThe president said the conflict had cost the lives of 18 US service members but argued that it could not be compared with longer American wars in Vietnam and AfghanistanI would say that its intermittent You know we do intermittent strikes Trump said Were not fighting right now Theres no fightingWhen challenged over describing a confrontation in which American troops had died as small potatoes Trump defended the fivemonth operationIran will not have a nuclear weapon Weve stopped them from having he saidTrump warned that the United States could conduct another strike against a location he identified as Pickaxe if it detected renewed activity thereWe may hit Pickaxe very soon because if there was anything going on with Pickaxe he said adding that the United States was monitoring movements across IranAnd if anything goes bad we hit them We hit them hard Trump saidThe president claimed US forces had destroyed Iranian radar aircraft and other equipment used to protect the Strait of Hormuz He also said American minesweepers had removed mines from the strategic waterway and that oil shipments were passing through itWe control the Hormuz Strait and we control it very strongly he saidTrump went further in characterising the military operation declaring We took over Venezuela and we have essentially taken over IranHe said there had been no shooting for several days following the latest US strikes and claimed it would take Iran 25 years to rebuild if Washington ended the operation immediatelyBut I want to leave so that the next president doesnt have to worry about it Trump said offering no timetable for ending the confrontationAsked about Chinas relationship with Iran Trump said he had personally urged Chinese President Xi Jinping not to interveneI said please dont get involved to President Xi Trump said And theyre not really involved very little involvement by ChinaTrump noted that China receives significant oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz He said pipelines and an overland route through Syria were creating alternatives to the strategic passageThe Hormuz Strait is not what it used to be Trump said Pipelines are being built all over the Middle East now so they dont have to go through the Hormuz StraitThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever