Vance refuses to put a clock on Iran conflict as key question keeps US forces engaged

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday he will not put an “artificial timeline” on the war with Iran, warning that the conflict will continue on as long as Iran keeps shooting at ships.

“You’re asking me a question like, when will the Iranians stop shooting at ships? I think the reality is, I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians, when will the Iranians shooting at ships stop having an effect on world energy markets? And the answer is it has less effect day by day,” Vance said while hosting the first White House press briefing after former press secretary Karoline Leavitt exited in August.

Vance said the U.S. will not depend on the Iranians “behaving responsibly” or “negotiating in good faith,” pointing to recent attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The Trump administration has taken negotiations off the table after June’s failed Memorandum of Understanding agreement and has pivoted back to economic and military pressure.

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“What we’re going to do is use the tools that we have at our disposal to ensure that the American people, one, never have to deal with the threat of an Iranian nuclear program and, two, the world, energy markets are properly supplied,” said Vance.

The conflict began on Feb. 28, 2026, when the U.S. and its partners launched Operation Epic Fury, striking targets across Iran at President Trump’s direction.

U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that American forces completed a wave of strikes against targets inside Iran, including air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites.

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Vance said the conflict with Iran is not a war, citing that there are no active shootings but “places where this is flared up” and acknowledged major combat operations that lasted under six weeks.

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“Since then, we destroyed, of course, their nuclear facilities with Midnight Hammer. With Epic Fury, we destroyed their defense industrial base for producing weapons and also a lot of their conventional military and then we made it harder for them to rebuild that nuclear program,” Vance added.