At least 10 people died, and dozens were injured on Friday following an explosion at a military barracks in Viacha, a Bolivian municipality located around 30 km (19 miles) from La Paz, local authorities said.

United States President Trump on Friday downplayed the months-long confrontation with Iran, calling it “small potatoes” and defending Vice President JD Vance’s refusal to describe the fighting as a “war.” The comments come as the conflict, now six months old, has cost US taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 American service members dead, even as strikes and counterstrikes between the US, Israel, and Iran continue on an intermittent basis across the Middle East.

Elsewhere, a Massachusetts courtroom saw its own dramatic ending Friday, as a judge declared a mistrial in the case of Lindsay Clancy, whose trial over the killing of her three children had gripped the country for weeks. Below is a look at the latest developments in both stories.

Key Development

• Trump downplays the Iran conflict. The president argued the US death toll of 18 service members is comparatively low next to past American wars such as Vietnam, and said the fighting is now “intermittent” rather than a full-scale war.
• Vance resists calling it a ‘war.’ Vice President JD Vance told reporters he wouldn’t label the ongoing US–Iran fighting a war, pointing to the absence of active combat at the moment he spoke, even though Iran had struck US ally Kuwait just a day earlier.
• Possible strikes on Pickaxe Mountain. Trump signaled the US could soon carry out strikes on Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain site, which has been reported to house nuclear-related facilities.
• Trump defends his framing. Pressed on calling the conflict “small potatoes” despite the casualties, Trump pointed to what he described as the defanging of Iran’s nuclear program as justification for the campaign.
• Mistrial declared in the Lindsay Clancy case. After seven days of deadlocked deliberations, a Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, who was accused of killing her three young children in 2023; her defense had argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis at the time.

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