Trump Tells Arlington Crowd the US Has Won the Iran War but Wants a Total Victory

President Donald Trump used his Veterans Day address at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday to defend the war with Iran, say the United States has already won it, and promise that it will end only with a complete result.

"We won," Trump told veterans and military families at the Memorial Amphitheater. "Now the question is when we want to end. We must have a total victory. Not a 93% victory. It's going to be total."

Trump and First Lady Melania Trump took part in the wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before the remarks, at the 73rd annual National Veterans Day Observance. Vice President JD Vance also marked the day at Arlington, Fox News and Newsmax reported.

A war he dates to 1979

Trump argued that the current conflict is part of a much longer fight. "America did not start a war with Iran. Iran has been waging war on America since 1979. They should have been taken care of a long time ago," he said.

He pointed to the 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, an attack carried out by Iranian backed Hezbollah that killed 241 American service members. Trump recognized Marine veteran Dale Garner, a survivor of that bombing, and described his injuries, Newsmax reported.

Trump said the operations against Iran began seven months ago and that only a few weeks of that time involved active fighting. He credited B-2 bombers with stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and he said Iran would need 25 years to rebuild what American forces had destroyed. He said he hoped no more destruction would be needed.

Eighteen American dead

The president put the American death toll from the conflict at 18. "We lost 18 beautiful souls," he said. "When this conflict is over, and it will be soon, the entire world will be much safer, a better place, more peaceful place, and a place without the kind of danger that we had to suffer."

Trump gave no date for an end to the war, and he did not say what terms would count as the total victory he described. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had played down a return to large strikes, telling reporters the United States does not need to conduct military strikes if it is reaching the same goal through economic pressure. "They're bleeding. They're bleeding economically," Rubio said, pointing to sanctions and the naval blockade.

Veterans, care and the arch

Much of the speech honored individual veterans. Trump recognized Jack Myers, 103, who served as a gunner in the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion in World War II, Army Colonel Douglas Moore, a Vietnam medevac pilot, and Green Beret Ryan Hendrickson, who returned to combat in Afghanistan after he was badly wounded, Newsmax reported.

On veterans care, Trump said his administration had cut the Department of Veterans Affairs claims backlog by 71 percent in less than two years and had secured housing for nearly 100,000 homeless veterans. He praised Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Near the end, Trump said a triumphal arch would soon be dedicated to veterans and the military. He gave no timing for the project, which is the subject of a court fight over its planned site near the cemetery.