WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump spent 10 minutes discussing the price of ceremonial White House pens during his first Cabinet meeting since the U.S. war with Iran entered its fifth week. Trump claimed to have reduced the pen price from $1,000 to $5 by switching to his favored Sharpie brand.

The war has cost the United States billions of dollars and depleted global reserves of critical weapons systems such as Tomahawk missiles. Military strikes continued to hit thousands of targets in Iran, where the death toll was approaching 2,000. The number of U.S. deaths in the conflict remained unchanged for days at 13.

Trump dismissed criticisms of the war campaign and questions about its justification and duration. He described reporters' questions about military tactics and potential ground troop deployment as inappropriate and foolish, and responded to concerns about the war's human toll by changing the subject.

"We've already won the war," Trump said during the meeting. "The Iranian regime is now admitting to itself that they have been decisively defeated."

Trump asserted that Iran was on the cusp of having a nuclear weapon and would have used it to cause devastation across the Middle East and to the United States if the United States had not struck first. He said the United States bombed Iran's nuclear sites last summer and has decimated about 99% of Iranian military capabilities.

Iran continued to strike U.S. military installations and other infrastructure in Gulf nations allied with the United States. Iran appeared to be formalizing its hold on the Strait of Hormuz by creating what amounted to a toll on ships seeking passage, enforced by its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He said he had been pleased by Iranian authorities allowing oil ships through the Strait of Hormuz, calling it a "present." Trump acknowledged that the possibility of mines in the Strait of Hormuz would hinder shipping and said the remaining 1% threat in the strait is unacceptable because a single missile could strike a ship hull costing $1 billion. Trump said that Iranian authorities were killing protesters.

Trump has talked about an impending deal to end the war in recent days. No deal had materialized, and Iran was downplaying the seriousness of the negotiations.

U.S. stocks fell on a Friday as Wall Street approached the end of its fifth straight weekly losing streak. That was the longest such losing streak in nearly four years, and oil prices rose again.