President Donald Trump has described his decision to enter into a deadly conflict in the Middle East as a “little excursion” for Americans and a “war” for Iranians.
As the death and injury toll continues to climb, Trump on Wednesday also deepened confusion about the endgame after telling Axios that America’s involvement could end “soon” because there is “practically nothing left to target,” only to suggest hours later there was still a way to go.
“We aren’t finished yet,” he said when asked about withdrawing U.S. forces.
And in another mixed message, the 79-year-old president also claimed that he didn’t know about a military investigation into a strike on an elementary school in Iran, days after saying the matter was being examined and he was prepared to “live with” the findings.
The baffling comments came as Trump faced growing pressure to find an offramp to the conflict amid soaring gas prices, plunging poll numbers, and shocking new details of injuries to U.S. soldiers.
Speaking in Ohio on the latest leg of his so-called “affordability tour,” Trump was asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy if the Iran conflict was a “war” or a “little excursion,” given he had described it as both.
“Well, it’s both. It’s an excursion that will keep us out of a war,” Trump replied. “For them it’s a war, for us it turns out to be easier than we thought.”
But the president’s remark about an “easy” intervention belies the fact that eight U.S service members have so far been killed since the strikes began 12 days ago, and a further 140 have been injured.
An estimated 1300 Iranians have also died amid the strikes, many of them civilians.
Speaking to reporters en route to Ohio and Kentucky, the president was also asked about a new report suggesting that the U.S. was responsible for the deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, which killed about 175 people, most of them children.
The military investigation is still ongoing, but according to the New York Times, a preliminary report found the February 28 strike was the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S. military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base.
According to people briefed on the investigation, U.S. Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike with outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which assists the Pentagon with military intelligence.
Asked on the South Lawn if he was prepared to take responsibility for this as commander in chief, Trump initially replied, “For what?”
“A strike on the school in Iran,” the reporter clarified.
“I don’t know about it,” Trump insisted.
The comment was yet another shift by the president, who claimed on Sunday that he believed Iran was responsible for bombing its own school. Then on Monday, he changed his stance again after being asked by the Times why he was the only person in his administration insisting Iran was to blame.
“Because I just don’t know enough about it,” Trump finally admitted, in stark contrast to his definitive response the day before. “I think it’s something that I was told is under investigation.”
If the findings prove to be true, the strike on the school would be one of the largest strikes on civilians by the U.S. in modern times, creating yet another political headache for the president.
But Trump insists his “little excursion” was going well.
“It’s been incredible, our military is unbelievable, the job they’re doing,” he said after landing in Ohio. “I would say, to put it mildly, we’re way ahead of schedule.”
Almost two weeks since he launched his war without congressional approval, MAGA Republicans are nonetheless panicking over soaring gas prices and a potential backlash from voters.
The issue is particularly sensitive for the president, who came to office promising not to get entangled in open-ended foreign wars and also vowed to bring down the cost of living pressures.
But with the Strait of Hormuz, which transports roughly a fifth of the world’s global oil and LNG consumption, effectively shut down due to the fighting, gas prices have taken a hit. On Wednesday, the average price of fuel was around $3.58, and in some states it was well over $5.
In a frank admission after Senators were briefed by the administration about the war, Trump ally Rick Scott said on Wednesday that while “we want prices to come down, I think, unfortunately, prices are going to be up for a while until this ends.”
However, Trump played down the concerns.
“The market is holding up well. I figured we would be hit a little bit, but we were hit less than I thought and we will be back on track in a pretty short while,” he said.
Earlier, he told Axios: “Little this and that... Any time I want it to end, it will end.”
