Still, Trump was angry with Vance last summer for not echoing the president’s statement that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “totally obliterated” after the first round of U.S. strikes, according to an excerpt from the upcoming book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan obtained by POLITICO. (A senior White House official said the reporting around the “obliterated” quote was “completely mischaracterized.”)
Despite Vance’s reservations about intervention in the Middle East, he quickly came on board the president’s position as the White House undertook a second round of strikes on Iran in February. Vance “very much wanted to go to Islamabad” for the attempt at peace talks in April, a senior White House official said at the time. The vice president’s relationship with the Pakistani field marshal has been credited as playing a key role in negotiations.
A Republican close to the White House said that the risk to both Trump and Vance was allowing the war to continue and destroying the economy in the process.
“The entire political apparatus around the president and virtually all the senior members of his team inside the administration were all largely aligned on ending this war,” the Republican said. “Interestingly, from the most hawkish to the most dovish, there were no major players inside the administration who attempted to stop or torpedo the deal. There was broad agreement that it was time to move on.”
Yet the president himself has appeared to acknowledge that the jury is still out on the peace agreement, joking about the front-facing role Vance is taking with it.
“If [the Iran deal] works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD,” Trump told reporters at the G7 summit on Wednesday. “He’s gonna turn his plane around and get the hell out of here. Yeah, I like that idea. I think it’s a good idea.”
Vance’s potential 2028 presidential bid raises the political stakes even higher. Vance, in his posture on the Iran war, has run into a quagmire that has befelled many of his predecessors: Any successes are attributed to the president; any failures the vice president is forced to own, as in the case of former Vice President Kamala Harris as border czar.
One person close to the vice president’s team noted that Vance has been able to play the role of “good, loyal vice president” despite his reservations about the war. But the person added, “If this thing in Iran goes great, I don’t think he gets some huge upside. If he blows this thing I don’t think he has huge downsides.”
