JD Vance privately fears the war in Iran will be a catastrophe, even as he quietly plots a 2028 presidential run.
His odds of taking the White House have plummeted as Secretary of State Marco Rubio surges into the ascendancy.
Vance, an anti-interventionist Iraq war veteran, has faded into the background while Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth bask in the glory of Operation Epic Fury, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28.
Vance is ‘worried about success’ and remains opposed to the war, a senior Trump administration official confirmed just days after Donald Trump admitted on stage that the vice president had been ‘less enthusiastic’ than other cabinet members.
Vance ‘just opposes’ the war and remains ‘skeptical’, a senior official told Politico.
A second official said Vance had offered ‘a different point of view’ but insisted he has since fallen in line. ‘But once the decision has been made, he’s fully on board,’ the official said.
Once it became clear that Trump would launch the strikes against Iran, Vance pushed for fast, decisive action to minimize casualties, sources said.
He intensely questioned Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at a meeting ahead of the strikes, pressing them on the risks and complexities.
Vice President JD Vance salutes as an US Army carry team moves the transfer case containing the remains of Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky, Monday March 9
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for a Women’s History Month event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 12
Black smoke rises following an airstrike, as Iranians take part in the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, a commemoration in support of the Palestinian people on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in Tehran on March 13
In 2023, then-Senator Vance wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal explaining why he backed Trump.
‘He has my support because I know he won’t recklessly send Americans to fight wars overseas,’ Vance wrote.
He is now being forced to walk a tightrope in public, while daylight emerges between himself and the President for the first time.
Vance told Fox News on March 2 that Trump would not allow the US ‘to get into a multiyear conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective.’
Vance spokeswoman Taylor Van Kirk said ‘the Vice President is a proud member of the President’s national security team, keeps his counsel to the President private.’
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said ‘efforts to drive a wedge between President Trump and Vice President Vance are totally misguided.’
