Vice President JD Vance privately expressed skepticism about the United States attacking Iran before the war started late last month, according to a new report.
Vance, a Marine veteran long critical of foreign military ventures, has publicly endorsed Operation Epic Fury, which has caused hundreds of deaths, roiled global financial markets and embroiled the wider Middle East region.
Multiple White House officials say Vance signaled resistance to the military campaign from the outset. An unnamed administration official said that the vice president is “skeptical,” “worried about success” and “opposes” the Iran war, according to a report by Politico published early Friday.
Another senior official told the outlet that Vance’s role “is to provide the president and the administration, you know, all points of views of what could happen from many different angles and, you know, he does that. But once the decision has been made, he’s fully on board.”
Someone acquainted with Vance’s view also told Politico that he believed the U.S. should “strike quickly,” adding that any delay could result in American casualties.
Some 13 U.S. service members have died in the war and another 140 have been injured, according to the Pentagon. More than 1,300 people have died in Iran, according to Iranian officials.
Despite apparent private reservations, Vance has publicly defended the military campaign on multiple occasions, saying it is essential to dismantle Iran’s military capacity.
“Donald J. Trump has taken affirmative steps to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” Vance told a crowd of supporters in North Carolina Friday.
He has also stressed that the war, which shows no signs of abating, will not be an open-ended conflict.
“Trump will not get the United States into a years-long conflict with no end in sight and no clear objective,” Vance told Fox News March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran.
The Trump administration has sought to downplay any internal divisions. At Mar-a-Lago Monday, Trump described the vice president as “philosophically a little different from me.”
The president continued: “I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was still quite enthusiastic.”
“Efforts to drive a wedge between President Trump and Vice President Vance are totally misguided,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement provided to The Independent.
“The President listens to a host of opinions from his talented national security team and ultimately makes decisions based on what is best for our country and national security. Vice President Vance is a tremendous asset to the President and the entire administration.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth weighed in Friday morning at a press conference when he was asked to respond to media reports about disagreements between Vance and the rest of the Trump administration.
“He’s an incredible member, leader of this team as well alongside the president and the secretary of state,” the defense secretary said, describing Vance as “an indispensable voice.”
Hegseth went on to say that Friday would be the most intense day of strikes yet but refrained from providing a clear timeline for the war’s completion. “President Trump holds the cards,” he said.
Vance, who deployed to Iraq from 2005 to 2006, has long cautioned against new foreign wars — both before and after joining the administration. A few days before Operation Epic Fury began, the vice president told The Washington Post that he considers himself a “skeptic of foreign military interventions.”
During the 2024 campaign, Vance said in a podcast interview that “our interest, I think, very much is in not going to war with Iran.” The previous year, he penned an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal titled: “Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars.”
Recent polls show that most Americans are opposed to the Iran war. Some 53 percent of voters are against U.S. military action in Iran, while 40 percent support it, according to a Quinnipiac survey released March 9.
