Donald Trump told JD Vance to focus on domestic issues rather than Iran after the vice-president blamed the war for the Republicans’ midterms drubbing.
Mr Trump said on Thursday that “we don’t need a deal with Iran”, and that he had instead asked Mr Vance to “focus his complete and total attention” on any crime and corruption in Democratic-run US cities and states.
The two men clashed over the Iran war earlier this month, after the Republicans’ humiliating midterm election results.
“The reason we lost is the war,” Mr Vance wrote in a post on X a day after the GOP’s bruising election night.
The comments were widely viewed as an attempt by the vice-president – who has been involved in peace negotiations with Tehran – to distance himself from Mr Trump before a possible 2028 presidential run.
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so,” he continued. “Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”
Referring to the Iran war, Donald Trump said that if he ‘had to do it again, I’d have to do it again’ – Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch
Mr Vance had reportedly considered attending talks with Iranian officials in person as part of a push to end the war. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mr Vance wrote to Mohsen Rezaei, the head of the Iranian Security Council, in October requesting a face-to-face meeting.
Mr Trump reportedly told his inner circle he would be open to the idea.
However, it appears that Mr Trump effectively shut down the possibility of such a meeting with his Truth Social post today.
Mr Trump has previously admitted that his war with Iran was partly to blame for the election losses. But he said it had been worth it to ensure that Tehran would not have a nuclear weapon.
He told CBS News’s 60 Minutes on Sunday that he was aware of Mr Vance’s plans to blame the election losses on the war, claiming that he told his vice-president to “write what you want”.
But posting to Truth Social on Thursday, Mr Trump said: “I have asked Vice President Vance to focus his complete and total attention on the Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S.
“The Blue States, such as Minnesota, California, Illinois, and many more, are all poorly run, corrupt disasters. Billions of Dollars is being stolen each and every month.”
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e added: “Our Budget could be quickly BALANCED with the correction of this large scale criminal activity. CORRUPTION is in the Democrat Leadership’s blood! We don’t need a deal with Iran.”
Mr Vance was reportedly opposed to launching air strikes against Iran in February. The strikes were seen by some as a betrayal of Mr Trump’s promise during his 2024 campaign fight no new wars.
Mr Vance has recently participated in outreach to Iran, writing to Tehran’s top security official.
The vice-president sent the letter to Mr Rezaei in an effort to revive peace negotiations, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported, citing US officials familiar with the matter.
