Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance don't seem to be on the same page on Iran. Vance, speaking with Fox News, said the first priority for the administration in Iran is keeping gas prices down, followed by stopping the nation from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"That's goal number one – keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country and then obviously goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," Vance said on "The Will Cain Show."
Trump doesn't appear to agree — and took to Truth Social to subtly chide his vice president.
"The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon," Trump wrote recently. "Thank you for your attention to this matter!" The divide highlights how politically tricky this moment is for Trump, Vance and the broader Republican Party.
Polling shows that the economy and prices, including gas, are the most important issues for voters ahead of this year's midterms. Gas prices remain high. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, reported Monday that the national average for a gallon of gasoline has risen nearly eight cents over the past week "and has again crossed the $4/gal mark for the third time this year to $4.02."
Diesel fuel, key to shipping costs, jumped 14.3 cents to $5.42 a gallon over the same time. That is putting pressure on Republican campaigns nationwide, given voters often blame the party in power for high prices. Over the last month, Republicans I have talked with have been increasingly worried that the party is getting perilously close to the point where fears over gas prices are so baked into the electorate that they are unlikely to shift, even if prices come down.
And there are few signs the war is nearing an end. Trump yesterday "threatened to bomb Oman, which has been in talks with Iran about a solution to reopen the Strait of Hormuz," reported Rachel Chason.
White House officials roundly rejected any divide between Trump and Vance on Iran.
"There is no divide," Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, told me when asked about the two comments.
"President Trump has been clear that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon, and the entire administration is behind him as he works to eliminate this threat that politicians talked about, but never acted upon for 47 years. Vice President Vance is doing a great job advancing the President's agenda to protect our homeland from a terrorist regime."
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was similarly asked Vance ordering the goals in Iran as first gas prices and second a denuclearized nation.
"Both goals are equally as important to the president," Leavitt said, days before the president outlined just one goal.
Vance and the White House have been fending off questions about the president and vice president being at odds over Iran for weeks.
"Is there any daylight between you and Trump on Iran?" asked Fox News' Laura Ingraham earlier this month.
"No, look, the president and I, first of all, he makes the decisions, and we all try to implement the decisions in accordance with the president's wishes," Vance said. "He makes orders. We of course have debates and conversations about what exactly we should do. But when the president of the United States makes a decision, we are unified in this administration in carrying out that mission."
But that response highlights why Trump and Vance's recent divide is also about more than just gas prices and Iran. Vance, a longtime critic of foreign entanglements, has worked hard not to get on the wrong side of Trump.
Part of that may be because history shows how quickly a vice president can get on the president's bad side. But it also has to do with the Republican Party's future.
Trump is a lame duck president and largely doesn't have to think about his own political future, beyond legacy.
That is not the case for Vance, who, at 42 years old, is widely seen as one of the clearest heirs apparent to Trump's political movement.
My colleagues Natalie Allison and Isaac Arnsdorf published a great story earlier this month about how Trump told donors "we need to elect JD" during a conversation about the 2028 presidential race. Advisers said the remark doesn't mean Vance is Trump's preferred candidate, and he has played up a contest between Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But it is a reminder of how Vance's future political aspirations are front of mind for an administration about to enter the back half of a president's second term.
And that means Vance must balance being loyal and supportive to Trump without tying himself too closely to any policies that could become liabilities in the future.
(COMMENT, BELOW)
Previously:
• The bipartisan rise of Flock cameras as a political issue
• Are data centers enough to flip a key House race?
• Voters want fighters. But where is the limit?
• Is the midterm cake baked?
• Is the midterm cake baked?
• For the DNC, no money, more problems