Trump Backs Vance’s Iran War Election Assessment

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he agreed with Vice President JD Vance’s assessment that the Iran war contributed to Republicans’ midterm losses, while saying he would again approve the strikes. Trump said Vance’s comments had not harmed their relationship, but argued the vice president should have stated whether he would make the same decision again.

“My answer is an emphatic yes,” Trump said in a CBS interview, explaining that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Speaking to reporters in Florida before boarding Air Force One, he likewise said Vance was right “other than one thing” and that many people had objected to the vice president’s remarks, though he said he had not.

Vance wrote in a November 4 post on X that the war was the reason Republicans lost the midterms. He also cited the cost of living, the America First agenda and U.S. relations with Israel as concerns among voters who had supported the Trump-Vance ticket in 2024. Those points were Vance’s political assessment; the election outcome alone does not establish what caused voters to change their choices.

Trump said Vance had been transparent with him before posting and had asked what he...