A vice president refused to call a six-month military campaign a war, even as the widow of an airman killed in that campaign says the semantics have cost her family money owed for his death.
JD Vance told reporters on 3 September 2026 that he 'wouldn't call it a war', despite continuing US strikes inside Iran and Iranian attacks on Gulf shipping. His remarks came at the first White House press briefing in more than 40 days, and the first since Karoline Leavitt stepped down as press secretary last month.
