Vance says he trusts Trump on Iran war, plays down differences

WASHINGTON - US Vice-President J.D. Vance on March 16 expressed support for the way President Donald Trump was handling the war in Iran and said he trusted him to make sure that “the mistakes of the past” are not repeated.

Mr Vance’s comments appeared to be an effort to counter questions about whether his well-known anti-war and isolationist views put him at odds with Mr Trump. Since the war began on Feb 28, Mr Vance had not publicly offered unequivocal support for it.

Part of the speculation over a possible disagreement had been triggered by Mr Trump’s comments in previous weeks that Mr Vance, who served in the US Marine Corps two decades ago, was “philosophically a little bit different” than him and that he was “maybe less enthusiastic” about attacking Iran.

Mr Vance, asked on March 16 if he was “onboard” with the war and whether he had any “hesitation”, said the president has long said Iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon and that he agreed with him.

“I think one big difference is... we have a smart president whereas in the past, we’ve had dumb presidents and I trust President Trump to get the job done, to do a good job for the American people, and to make sure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated,” said Mr Vance, standing alongside Mr Trump during an Oval Office event.

Mr Vance, once a self-described “never-Trumper,” wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal in early 2023 saying Mr Trump’s best foreign policy was not starting any wars during his first four years in office between 2017 to 2021.

“My entire adult lifetime has been shaped by presidents who threw America into unwise wars and failed to win them,” wrote Mr Vance, who has also been openly critical of Washington sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion. REUTERS