ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump held his first wartime Cabinet meeting Thursday, one month into his Iran conflict, as he continued toggling between talk of diplomacy and rattling his military saber.
The president has spent much of the week striking a new tone on the war and signaling interest in peace talks, even as the administration threatens additional military strikes. On Wednesday evening, Trump tried redefining the ongoing bombardment as a “military operation” during a House Republican fundraising dinner at Washington’s Union Station.
“I won’t use the word war because they say if you use the word war, that’s maybe not a good thing to do. They don’t like the word war because you’re supposed to get [congressional] approval,” he told GOP lawmakers and other invited guests inside the train station’s main hall. “I’ll use the word ‘military operation,’ which is really what it is.”
