JD Vance Mostly Silent On Iran War, Trump Says He's "Philosophically Different"

The US-Israel war on Iran has entered its 12th day, and if there's one man away from the camera and quotes, it's Vice-President JD Vance. He has mostly remained silent after President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu launched joint strikes on Tehran, assassinating  Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.

Trump has now addressed how he and Vance see the situation.

Earlier, ABC News reported that Vance privately expressed reservations about the strikes. He, however, shifted his focus to supporting the military operation when the decision to carry out strikes was finalised.

During a recent news conference, Trump was asked if there were any disagreements between him and Vance on military action against Iran. He responded, saying he didn't “think so.”

"We get along very well on this. He was, I would say, philosophically a little bit different from me. I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was quite enthusiastic. But I felt it was something we had to do. I didn't feel we had a choice. If we didn't do it, they would have done it to us,” he said as quoted by ABC News.

JD Vance: ‘Trump Will Not Allow Multi-Year Conflict'

Days before US and Israeli strikes, Vance told The Washington Post that there was “no chance” of a drawn-out war if the strikes proceeded. He repeated this in a recent Fox News interview but also cautioned that the operation “could go for a lot longer.”

He said that Trump in “no way” will allow Iran to get into a “multi-year conflict.”

"What is different about President Trump, and it's frankly different about both Republicans and Democrats of the past, is that he's not going to let his country go to war unless there's a clearly defined objective," the Vice President added.

He added that Trump's objective was clear: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability.”

According to him, that clear focus is what distinguishes this action from past conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Trump Signals Iran War To ‘Short-Term Excursion'

Trump has described the strikes as a “little excursion” aimed at eliminating what he called “some evil.”

"Then, I think you'll see it's going to be a short-term excursion,” he added.

He also issued a warning after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. The US will hit Iran “TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far," Trump said.

In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that Iran “will not allow the export of a single litre of oil from the region”.

Over the last 12 days, Israel and the US have jointly targeted Tehran and multiple other cities, including Minab, where American missiles struck a girls' elementary school, killing nearly 180 children. Iran said nearly 1,500 people have been killed by US and Israeli strikes, and thousands of others have been wounded.