Trump calls US-Iran war 'a military exercise' as death toll rises to 21 and Pickaxe Mountain strike looms

President Donald Trump described the ongoing war with Iran as "just a military exercise" at a Georgia rally on Friday, even as the Pentagon's updated casualty count confirmed 21 US troops have died and 865 have been wounded in the conflict. Trump has repeatedly resisted calling it a war, previously dismissing it as "small potatoes." He also warned the US "may have to" strike Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, while the White House has reportedly prepared the so-called "mother of all bombs" for possible use against Iran.

Over a two-week period, Iran attacked at least 24 commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, with Britain's Royal Navy maritime monitor recording seven additional incidents in this week alone.

Trump told a separate rally this week that government leakers "should be shot," tying the remark to a claim that a leaked raid timetable forced him to reschedule a planned strike on Iran.