Trump says Vance was 'philosophically' different on Iran while
downplaying split
[March 10, 2026]
By STEVEN SLOAN
DORAL, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said his vice president, JD
Vance, was “philosophically a little bit different than me” at the
outset of the war in Iran even as he dismissed the notion of a
disagreement between the two.
Speaking to reporters on Monday at his golf club in Doral, Florida, the
president said Vance was “maybe less enthusiastic about going” but
insisted that his decision to launch airstrikes in Iran alongside Israel
was necessary.
“I felt it was something we had to do,” Trump said. “I didn’t feel we
had a choice.”
Heading into a challenging election year, the war in Iran has stoked
tension among Republicans, with some expressing reservations about how
the operation fits into the “America First,” isolationist-leaning
movement the party has embraced during the Trump era.
Few have embodied that movement as prominently as Vance, who over the
course of a decade rose from an author to U.S. senator and ultimately
vice president. He's now considered a top contender for the Republican
presidential nomination in 2028, giving him the opportunity to carry
Trump's movement into the future.
Vance reinforces Trump's vision
Alongside his political rise, Vance, a former Marine, has often
reinforced Trump's vision of an America more focused on solving problems
at home than intervening in conflicts abroad. In a 2023 op-ed in The
Wall Street Journal that's garnered renewed attention after the Iran
strikes, Vance wrote that Trump has his support because “I know he won’t
recklessly send Americans to fight overseas.”
On the eve of the strikes, Vance told The Washington Post there was “ no
chance ” that the U.S. would become involved in a drawn-out war as it
did in Iraq.
Since then, the administration has provided conflicting messages about
how long the war would last. Trump has said it could go on “as long as
necessary.” Amid intensifying economic turmoil on Monday, Trump
described the war as a “short-term excursion.”
If Vance has the reservations Trump hinted at on Monday, he has been
publicly supportive of the president since the strikes began. In a Fox
News interview with Jesse Watters, Vance rejected comparisons of the
Iran operation to earlier wars, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“If you think back to Afghanistan, 20 years of mission creep, 20 years
(of) not having a clear objective and 20 years (of) the United States
trying to bring liberal democracy to Afghanistan,” Vance said at the
time. “Iraq was a little bit shorter, but we were still in that country
for nearly a decade with no clear mission, no clear definition.”
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Vice President JD Vance walks to board Air Force Two, Monday, March
9, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., to attend the casualty return
for Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Ky., at Dover Air
Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
“What’s so different about this, Jesse,” Vance added, “is that the
president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish.”
On Monday evening, Vance was at Dover Air Force Base to attend the
dignified transfer for Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, the seventh U.S.
service member to die in combat during the Iran war.
Trump has long maintained a hawkish Iran outlook
When it comes to Iran, Trump, over his five years in the White
House, and long before, has shown a steadiness in his hawkish views
toward Tehran, said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a research fellow focused on
Iran security issues at the Foundation for Defense Democracies.
The president, in his first term, moved to end a landmark Iran
nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration, in the face of
strong objections from European allies. Later in his first term, he
boasted of serving up “American justice” by ordering a drone strike
to take out Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, while jeering Democratic
leaders for questioning his decision to carry out the attack without
first consulting Congress.
At the time, the killing of Soleimani, the Quds Force commander and
arguably the most powerful figure in Iran after the supreme leader,
was widely considered the most provocative U.S. military action in
the Middle East in years, marking a severe escalation in tensions
with Tehran.
Trump’s deep skepticism toward the Islamic Republic’s cleric
leadership dates back to his days as a young New York real estate
developer when he publicly urged military intervention during the
Iran hostage crisis.
“There’s this narrative with Trump on Iran that Bibi’s in his ear,”
said Taleblu, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. “Or that Vance is in his ear. But Trump has had a
fundamental view and personal interest on Iran for years.”
And on Monday, Trump insisted there was no disagreement between him
and Vance.
“We get along very well on this,” Trump said.
___
Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed
to this report.
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