Vance signals disagreement with Trump over Iran war

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US Vice President JD Vance has publicly acknowledged that he disagreed with President Donald Trump over the war with Iran, while insisting the two remain aligned on the broader principle that military action must serve a clear objective.

Vance made the remarks in an interview with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, aired Friday. Asked about his relationship with commentator Tucker Carlson, who has strongly opposed the conflict, Vance said, “Even if you disagree with him on that one issue, you can have that disagreement. And I think I have had that disagreement.”

Carlson rift

Carlson, once a close Trump ally, has argued that the war serves Israeli rather than American interests and contradicts Trump’s pledge to avoid costly foreign interventions. Vance said Carlson was “very, very angry” about the war and that the two had discussed the issue both privately and publicly.

“I know how he feels, and I understand,” Vance said. But he criticized Carlson for “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” pointing to Trump’s border policies and his administration’s actions on university admissions as evidence that the president had “done a lot of good.”

Vance also questioned Carlson’s support for Abdul El-Sayed, an anti-war Senate candidate in Michigan, asking, “How is that America First?” Despite the tension, Vance said he would never “disavow” Carlson.

‘Aligned’ on objectives

Vance said he and Trump were “very much aligned” on when the United States should use force. “It has to accomplish a discrete objective,” he said. “You can’t just go to war because it feels good. You can’t go to war because you’re angry or because you’re frustrated.”

He noted that the US had lost 20 service members in the conflict and said any military action must deliver “something very, very beneficial” to justify that sacrifice. Trump, he added, was “very mindful” of avoiding prolonged conflicts.

War nears eighth month

The war began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, followed by a ceasefire in April. Fighting resumed after talks stalled, despite a memorandum of understanding signed by the two sides in June.

On Thursday, Trump said the US might strike Iran’s fortified Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site, telling Newsmax, “We’ll take a shot at that one. We’ll knock it out fast.” On Friday, he predicted the war would end “very, very soon.”

Vance’s comments mark his clearest public acknowledgment of a policy rift with Trump at a time when the president is weighing further strikes and divisions over Iran are deepening within his political base.