Trump Says Iran War Is Won, Seeks ‘Total Victory’

President Donald Trump defended the United States’ war with Iran at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, saying Washington had won while insisting it still needed a “total victory” and predicting the conflict would end soon. He gave no date for an end or explanation of what would constitute total victory.

Trump said the United States had not started the war and argued that Iran had been waging war on America since 1979. That was his account of the conflict’s origins. The war began on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran, according to reports of the campaign. Trump said the military operation had lasted about seven months, with only a few weeks of intense fighting.

“We won,” Trump said, before adding that the United States wanted a “total victory, not a 93 victory.” He did not explain the reference to 93. He also said the question was when the United States would end the conflict, and that it would be over “soon.”

Trump put the U.S. military death toll at 18 service members. A report citing the latest Pentagon figures gave a different total, 23 U.S. service members killed and several hundred wounded. The reports did not establish...