{"id":8056,"date":"2026-07-16T23:05:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8056"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:05:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:05:36","slug":"vance-says-he-was-less-enthusiastic-about-striking-iran-than-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8056","title":{"rendered":"Vance says he was \u2018less enthusiastic\u2019 about striking Iran than Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/06\/22\/Switzerland_Iran_US_Negotiations_72216_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/jd-vance\/\">J.D. Vance<\/a> defended the administration\u2019s decision to strike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/iran\/\">Iran<\/a>, denied that Israel was driving it, and acknowledged the Trump administration \u201cmishandled\u201d the release of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/jeffrey-epstein\/\">Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> files during a nearly three-hour appearance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/joe-rogan\/\">Joe Rogan\u2019s<\/a> podcast released Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>It was Mr. Vance\u2019s second appearance on \u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/joe-rogan\/\">Joe Rogan<\/a> Experience,\u201d after a similarly long conversation a week before the 2024 election, when he was still a senator from Ohio and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> running mate. Mr. Rogan, who endorsed Mr. Trump in 2024, has grown increasingly critical of the administration, particularly over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/iran\/\">Iran<\/a> war and the Epstein files.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether he would have made the same call on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/iran\/\">Iran<\/a>, Mr. Vance noted that Mr. Trump had publicly described him as \u201cless enthusiastic\u201d about the war than others in the administration, but said his job as vice president was not to be a \u201cpublic commentator.\u201d He said he would back any presidential decision he considered \u201clegal and ethical,\u201d and that the goal in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/iran\/\">Iran<\/a> \u2014 preventing a nuclear weapon \u2014 was sound.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Vance also pushed back on the idea that Israel was the driving force behind the war, telling Mr. Rogan that Mr. Trump\u2019s concern about an Iranian nuclear weapon was unrelated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the president, completely separate from any influence from Israel, believes very strongly, and again I agree with this, that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/iran\/\">Iran<\/a> should not have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Mr. Vance said.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he said he knew \u201cbeyond a shadow of a doubt\u201d that elements within the Israeli government were trying to keep the war going \u201cindefinitely\u201d and manipulate American opinion against a negotiated settlement. Citing a Time magazine report on an Israeli-funded influence campaign targeting his diplomacy, Mr. Vance said of those involved, \u201cGo to hell. I\u2019m going to do what I have to do for the American people,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/go-to-hell-vance-rails-at-reported-israeli-backed-online-campaign-smearing-iran-mou\/\">Times of Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On the Epstein files, Mr. Vance told Mr. Rogan the White House had botched the rollout. \u201cWe absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files,\u201d he said, adding that former Attorney General Pam Bondi had \u201coverstated what we had and what we didn\u2019t have\u201d in trying to manage the political fallout, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/15\/jd-vance-epstein-files-joe-rogan-podcast\">Axios<\/a>. He said the delay was not an effort to hide anything, and that redacting victims\u2019 identities from millions of pages of documents took time, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/conormurray\/2026\/07\/15\/vance-tells-rogan-trump-administration-mishandled-the-epstein-files-release\/\">Forbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Mr. Vance went further than the files themselves, saying Epstein \u201cclearly had connections to the upper, the highest levels, of American intelligence\u201d and \u201cthe highest levels of Israeli intelligence\u201d as well. The latter claim echoes conspiracy theories about Epstein\u2019s ties to Mossad that have circulated since his 2019 death and have often shaded into antisemitic tropes; no evidence has surfaced to support it, and former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett publicly denied last year that Epstein worked for Israeli intelligence, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2026\/07\/15\/politics\/jd-vance-tells-joe-rogan-that-jeffrey-epstein-had-connections-to-israeli-intelligence\">Jewish Telegraphic Agency<\/a> reported. Mr. Vance said he was one of the \u201cO.G. Epstein conspiracy theorists\u201d but called the notion that Mr. Trump had been blackmailed over the files \u201ccrazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The two men found more common ground on the subject of socialism. Mr. Rogan, who has described himself as \u201cpolitically homeless\u201d under Mr. Trump, said the rise of democratic socialists in this year\u2019s midterm primaries left him shaken. Mr. Vance agreed, arguing that 40 years of offshoring jobs and unrestricted low-wage immigration had hollowed out the middle class and left young Americans unable to afford homes. \u201cUnless you go down that pathway of allowing young Americans to own something, socialism is the inevitable outcome,\u201d he said, according to a Fox News report carried by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfmd.com\/2026\/07\/15\/vance-warns-there-will-be-a-socialist-president-in-this-country-if-gop-doesnt-fix-economy-for-young-people\/\">930 WFMD<\/a>. He credited the administration\u2019s border crackdown with helping stabilize housing costs.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The conversation also touched on space travel, a favorite subject of Mr. Rogan\u2019s. Mr. Vance said he wants to see humans colonize Mars but worries that human biology \u201cdoes not function as well\u201d outside Earth-style gravity \u2014 a problem he said scientists have yet to solve, The New York Times reported.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times&#8217; AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times&#8217; original reporting, wire services, and\/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/ai-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">AI policy<\/a> or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/16\/vance-says-less-enthusiastic-striking-iran-trump\/mailto:sfink@washingtontimes.com\">sfink@washingtontimes.com<\/a><br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #3e3e3e;\"><em><br \/>\n                          The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/jul\/16\/vance-says-less-enthusiastic-striking-iran-trump\/mailto:aispotlight@washingtontimes.com\">aispotlight@washingtontimes.com<\/a>.<br \/>\n                      <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vice President J.D. Vance defended the administration\u2019s decision to strike Iran, denied that Israel was driving it, and acknowledged the Trump administration \u201cmishandled\u201d the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files during a nearly three-hour appearance on Joe Rogan\u2019s podcast released Wednesday. It was Mr. Vance\u2019s second appearance on \u201cThe Joe Rogan Experience,\u201d after a similarly&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/06\/22\/Switzerland_Iran_US_Negotiations_72216_c0-0-5500-3208_s1200x700.jpg?63bf9ddd2a93dcc45666091c6c419282b42abc05","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}