JD Vance did not answer directly whether the US planned to strike Iran, but repeatedly stated that Iran cannot have nuclear capabilities.(Image: AFP via Getty Images)JD Vance took to social media on Tuesday to defend Donald Trump’s approach to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran amid increasing pushback from top conservative figures and MAGA followers. In a lengthy post, Vance focused on the president’s supposed consistency on the issue of Iran’s nuclear capability, despite calls from leaders within the Republican party to reject all involvement in the conflict.
“First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent, over 10 years, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Over the last few months, he encouraged his foreign policy team to reach a deal with the Iranians to accomplish this goal,” Vance wrote on X.
“And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy. But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish American people’s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus.”
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Republican figures normally fiercely loyal to Trump have called his seemingly increasing involvement in the conflict “the end of the American empire.”(Image: AP)Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” Tuesday after he said earlier in the week that he had known about Israeli attacks on Tehran before they occurred. He also left the G7 Summit in Canada on Monday after only eight hours, which French President Emmanuel Macron said was likely for him to broker a ceasefire between the two nations.
“I just wanted to explain to the American people, if you want safety, part of safety, and I think all Americans want that, is ensuring that the worst people in the world don’t have a nuclear bomb,”
Tuesday. “And part of ensuring that they don’t have a nuclear bomb is ensuring that they don’t have the enrichment capacity to get there.”
While he avoided direct questions about whether Trump would strike Iran, he reiterated the president’s position that Iran cannot have nuclear capabilities.
Cracks have emerged, meanwhile, among some of Trump’s most ardent supporters, many of whom are speaking out against US involvement. Conservative pundits Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson joined Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Representative Matt Gaetz in urging Trump to reject calls to join the conflict.
JD Vance had previously been quiet about Trump’s potential plans to further involve the US in the Israel-Iran conflict.(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)Bannon, Trump’s longstanding advisor, joined Carlson on his podcast Monday evening. He warned that further US involvement would “blow up” Trump’s followers and jeopardize his national agenda.
“If we get sucked into this war, which inexorably looks like it’s going to happen on the combat side, it’s going to not just blow up the coalition, it’s also gonna thwart what we’re doing with the most important thing, which is the deportation of the illegal alien invaders that are here,” he said to Carlson, the former Fox News host. Trump’s escalating immigration crackdown has spawned protests around the country, which saw their largest attendances Saturday during the planned “No Kings” day of protest.
Carlson had also appeared on Bannon’s show on Monday, telling him that US involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict could be “the end of the American empire.”
Representative Greene, one of Trump’s most loyal supporters, wrote in a rare deviation that Trump’s name-calling of “kooky” Carlson in his response to his comments was ill-founded.