British-American comedian and political commentator John Oliver took a jibe at US President Donald Trump for his peculiar way of describing the ongoing conflict with Iran. He likened Trump to a six-year-old as he poked fun at the president for repeatedly failing to describe the conflict as a "war."

Since the conflict began in late February, when Israel and the US carried out joint military operations on Iran, Trump has refrained from using the word "war". Instead, at the annual House Republicans fundraising event last Wednesday, he issued a bizarre explanation.

“I won’t use the word ‘war’ because they say if you use the word war, that’s maybe not a good thing to do,” he rambled. “They don’t like the word war because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word ‘military operation,’ which is really what it is," he was quoted as saying by The Daily Beast.

‘He really just talks like a 6-year-old’ After airing the clip on Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver responded with a scathing monologue, ridiculing the president’s explanation.

“He really just talks like a 6-year-old speaking stream-of-consciousness to a stranger: ‘And my mum says I’m not allowed to talk about my penis with other people, even though everybody has one, well, not her and not my sister, but my dad and I both have penises, but I can’t say that when there are too many people around, even though everyone knows ’cause they have their own penises unless they don’t, but I do,’” the host said.

Oliver went on to remark that “Trump tries not to use the word ‘war’ for reasons he probably shouldn’t be saying out loud.” The 79-year-old president’s handling of the terminology has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum, with both Democrats and Republicans accusing the administration of keeping Congress uninformed about ongoing operations.

‘Feels like we’re in an unnecessary war’ Regardless of the language used by Trump and his allies, Oliver described the situation - now in its fifth week - as “has been chaos.” He also highlighted Trump’s recent threat to target Iran’s power grid in an attempt to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, a move that prompted strong reactions from humanitarian groups. Amnesty International condemned the suggestion as “deeply irresponsible” and “a threat to commit war crimes.”

Echoing those concerns, Oliver added that such an act “would be a war crime if this was a war, but luckily we now know it isn’t.”