Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery, the president said the only remaining question was when the United States would end the conflict. His remarks also revived controversy over his proposed triumphal arch near the cemetery.
President Donald Trump used the national Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday to defend the U.S. war with Iran, declaring that America had already won the conflict and that the only remaining question was “when we want to end it.”
Speaking at the cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater before an audience of veterans and their families, Trump devoted most of his address to honoring American service members before turning to a political defense of the military campaign.
“America did not start a war with Iran. Iran has been waging war in America since 1979. This should have been taken care of a long time ago,” Trump said.
“It was about time somebody fought back. All of us fought back. We fought back, and we seriously fought back, and we won. Just a question of when we want to end it. We want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93 percent victory,” he added.
The remarks came eight days after Democrats gained control of both chambers of Congress in an election Trump has acknowledged was influenced in part by the war. According to an Associated Press Election Day survey, approximately six in 10 voters said the decision to use military force against Iran was wrong.
Trump cites Beirut bombing and U.S. casualties
The president introduced his argument by recognizing Dale Garner, a Marine veteran who survived the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut by Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants. The attack killed 241 American service members.
Trump described Garner’s injuries, including a collapsed lung, a broken back and burns, before asking him to stand before the audience.
“You look good, Dale. He looks good. A handsome guy. What’s going on here?” the president said.
Trump then turned to the current conflict, saying U.S. military operations against Iran began seven months ago, although only a few weeks involved what he described as active, intense fighting.
“We lost 18 beautiful souls,” he said, referring to American military casualties following the start of U.S. strikes against Iran on February 28.
Trump again predicted that the war would end soon, repeating a claim he has made several times since the spring without providing evidence or a specific timeline.
“It’ll take them 25 years to rebuild back what we have destroyed, and hopefully we won’t have to destroy any more of that country,” he said.
Trump compares Iran conflict with other wars
Standing near the graves of Americans killed in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, Trump discussed the duration and death toll of those conflicts, arguing that the United States had gained little from them.
He contrasted those wars with the U.S. operation in Venezuela in January, which he described as a successful effort to remove President Nicolás Maduro. Trump claimed the operation was won “in 48 minutes” and continued presenting it as a war won by his administration.
He also boasted about the financial benefits he said the United States was receiving through access to Venezuelan oil.
“We’re taking out billions and billions of dollars of oil and all sorts of other things. Be hundreds of billions very soon,” Trump told the audience. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it, and we paid for the cost of the war many, many times over already.”
“To the victor belong the spoils, they used to say,” he added. “But you can say it again with us under this leadership.”
Proposed triumphal arch faces legal challenges
Toward the end of his address, Trump promoted his administration’s plan to build a 250-foot gilded triumphal arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
“Soon we’re going to dedicate a magnificent triumphal arch to our veterans, and that’s in honor of our great veterans and our great militaries,” he said. “They’ve been waiting for it for 200 years.”
The proposed structure has drawn criticism from veterans’ organizations and preservationists, who argue that it would disrupt the historic view between Arlington and the Lincoln Memorial and create additional traffic problems on the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled last week that construction must be paused for 14 days while she considers whether to impose a longer-term halt. The temporary order followed an 8-4 vote by the National Capital Planning Commission approving the project.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by veterans’ groups and the governments of Maryland and Virginia. The court also rejected the Trump administration’s argument that the proposed structure could qualify as a military complex, potentially including features such as sniper positions and ammunition storage.
Separately, members of the Kennedy family have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the project, arguing that the arch would overshadow the graves of their relatives and obstruct the view of the eternal flame at President John F. Kennedy’s gravesite.
In a statement, lawyers representing descendants of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and Senator Ted Kennedy said the proposed structure would interfere unlawfully with Arlington National Cemetery and the memorials honoring those buried there.
The statement described the project as a “gigantic proposed arch” that would affect the gravesites and memorials of the Kennedy brothers and Ethel Kennedy.
