Photo: Molly Riley / White House (January 2026 archive)

Updated November 2, 2026, at 10:32 p.m. EST: Added Fox News’ direct English quotations about Pickaxe and retained Kan’s report of Trump’s preference for a deal.

President Donald Trump called the Iran conflict “a very soft war” during a live interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night, as U.S. officials separately described limited American strikes in the region as defensive.

Asked how soon the war would end, Trump said, “This isn’t war,” according to The Guardian‘s live coverage of the interview.

“We’re not fighting a war. When was the last time we fired? …This is a very soft war,” Trump said, as quoted by the outlet. He later added, “There hasn’t been shooting for months.”

The BBC also reported that Trump had phoned into Hannity’s program Monday evening. The Guardian reported the Iran remarks without a precise clock time for that entry.

Pickaxe Mountain remarks

In the same Hannity interview, Trump also raised the possibility of an attack on Pickaxe, according to Fox News‘ live coverage.

“Now we might have to go after Pickaxe, but that’s not a big deal,” Trump said, as quoted directly in English by Fox. “We can do it. And literally we can do that in one hour.”

Israeli public broadcaster Kan also quoted Trump as saying, in an English translation of its Hebrew report, “If I can make a deal, I prefer that because it will save many lives.” The remarks describe a possibility and a stated preference for negotiations, not an announced decision or order to strike.

Remarks and strike reports are separate

Trump’s description came on an evening when U.S. officials told news organizations that limited strikes had taken place. As detailed in the earlier Hormuz report, CNN cited three U.S. officials saying the military struck Qeshm Island Monday in an operation they characterized as defensive and intended to protect American assets.

Hannity did not ask Trump about the emerging strike reports, according to The Guardian. The president’s remarks should therefore not be presented as an answer to a question about those operations or as a specific denial that they occurred.

Trump also called $30 billion spent on the Iran war “peanuts,” The Guardian reported. That amount is the figure he discussed in the interview, not an independently verified accounting of the conflict’s total cost.

The interview did not establish that the limited strikes represented a return to the major U.S. military campaign. Nor does Trump’s statement that there had been no shooting for months settle the facts of the separately reported operations.

JBizNews Desk | Washington
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