World News Today Live Updates: Trump calls Iran conflict ‘small potatoes’ and defends Vance’s position that it’s not a ‘war’

President Trump dismissed the ongoing conflict with Iran as "small potatoes" on Friday, while defending Vice President JD Vance's refusal to label it a "war." The six-month-long conflict has cost the United States over $37.5 billion and resulted in 18 American service members' deaths, despite intermittent strikes and counterstrikes between the US, Israel, and Iran across the Middle East.

Trump argued that the US death toll of 18 service members is lower than in past American wars like Vietnam, and described the fighting as "intermittent" rather than a full-scale war. Vance, however, refused to call the ongoing US-Iran fighting a war, citing the absence of active combat at the moment he spoke, even though Iran had recently attacked a US ally, Kuwait.

Trump also hinted at potential future strikes on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain site, reportedly housing nuclear-related facilities, and defended his framing of the conflict. When pressed on the use of the term "small potatoes" despite the casualties, Trump pointed to the defanging of Iran's nuclear program as justification for the campaign.

Meanwhile, a Massachusetts courtroom saw a dramatic end to the Lindsay Clancy case as a judge declared a mistrial after seven days of deadlocked deliberations. Clancy was accused of killing her three young children in 2023, with her defense arguing she suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time.