Trump bluntly tells JD Vance to shift focus from Iran to targeting
'corruption and crime' at home
[November 13, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday directed Vice
President JD Vance to shift his focus away from the Iran war and instead
devote himself to fighting what the president says is corruption and
crime in Democratic-controlled cities and states.
Vance, who served as the lead negotiator for a short-lived truce in the
eight-month old war, has been blunt in blaming the war — and the
economic reverberations it has caused — for Republicans' sweeping losses
in last week's midterm elections in the United States.
But Trump brusquely told the vice president in a social media post
Thursday to shift his energies away from the Iran war to what he argues
is a more pressing — and perhaps more politically salient — issue after
Republicans were trounced at the polls.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump said in the post. “Those days
have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of
Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!”
Trump earlier this week said he believed the war “militarily is
effectively over,” and appeared to double down on that message by
pointedly directing Vance “to focus his complete and total attention” on
his anti-fraud campaign.
Democrats have promised intense oversight of Trump's business dealings
and other targets when they take control of Congress in January after
voters identified corruption as one of their top concerns. Trump's post
about Vance and the Iran war was, in part, responding to a flurry of
reports about Democrats' plans.
But it also came after The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday
evening that Vance was weighing engaging in a new round of direct talks
with a senior Iranian official.
The vice president's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The White House press office, in an email, responded to a query by
highlighting that Trump made clear in his post that he sees no need to
negotiate with Iran.
Vance blamed Trump's Iran war for midterm losses
Vance, who had long advocated for restraint in U.S. military
interventions overseas, was lukewarm in his defense of the conflict
after Trump launched it and became the face of an unsuccessful attempt
to end the fighting when he headed up negotiations over the summer.
Following the Nov. 3 losses, Vance wrote a lengthy post on X in which he
didn't mince words about the political impact of the conflict.
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the
next 6 years was worth it, then do so," Vance said. “Argue it was a
worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”
The vice president is considering whether to launch a 2028 run for the
White House. Voter dissatisfaction with Trump's handling of the war
could weigh down those ambitions.
The president has yet to endorse a successor for the 2028 race. In a CBS
“60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, the president said he “may or
may not get involved” in offering an endorsement.
Trump earlier this week said that he believed that mediation efforts led
by Qatar are making progress and that it was unlikely he would need to
make good on earlier threats to restart the full-scale bombardment of
Iran after he was past the midterm elections.
The president said in an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show” on Thursday
that he stood ready to restart strikes if necessary. “If something
doesn’t work out, I would not hesitate,” he said.
Separately, in an interview with commentator Stephen A. Smith, Trump
suggested he hasn't ruled out carrying out strikes on Iran’s Pickaxe
Mountain, a facility linked to Iran's nuclear program, if the U.S.
detects signs of activity at the facility.
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Waters around Iran remain treacherous
Oil shipments coming out of the Strait of Hormuz have recovered to
near prewar levels after Iran effectively choked the critical
waterway for months, stemming the flow of crude and energy resources
from its Persian Gulf neighbors.
But international tankers now are relying on U.S. Navy escorts to
get the oil out of the strait. The U.S. military has recently
carried out limited strikes on Iran, including against its air
defenses.
And while crude and liquefied natural gas exports from the Gulf are
climbing, there's also been an uptick in attacks on ships trying to
traverse the waterway.
The British military on Thursday reported at least two tankers were
struck by projectiles in recent days while traversing contested
waters near Iran.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, an agency that
monitors maritime safety, said one of the tankers was struck
Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, northwest of Ras al-Khaimah. The
agency reported the crew evacuated safely and no casualties were
reported.
In another incident from Tuesday, the UKMTO said a tanker was struck
by a projectile in the Persian Gulf. Multiple people were taken
ashore for medical assistance while the remaining crew was safe and
accounted for, the agency said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week he pressed his Group
of Seven counterparts during talks in Paris to “step up” and help
protect ships from Iranian attacks but acknowledged making no
headway on the issue.
At the same time, a Saudi-led coalition is mired in fighting with
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. That fighting has made it
precarious to transport oil and other goods through the Bab
el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and
the Indian Ocean.
Qalibaf claims the U.S. wants Russia to intervene
Meanwhile, Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad
Bagher Qalibaf, said in an interview that the United States has
asked for Russian President Vladimir Putin to facilitate direct
negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
“It was the Americans who, during a visit to Moscow, spoke with Mr.
Putin and asked him to speak with Iran so that, in any case, Iran
would agree to speak directly with them,” Qalibaf told Al Jazeera in
the interview. “Look, Russia and Mr. Putin, the Russian president,
are friends of ours. We have strategic relations with Russia. We are
very close, and we hold Mr. Putin in particularly high regard."
The White House did not directly respond to a query about whether
the U.S. has asked Putin to facilitate talks with Iran.
Qalibaf said the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council,
Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, traveled to Russia and briefed Putin on
details of the negotiations. “He informed him that we had conveyed
our positions, which represent the legitimate rights and rightful
demands of our people, to the Americans,” he said, adding that it is
up to the U.S. side to respond.
“It is up to them to decide. If they are truly telling the truth and
are sincere about negotiations, then they should respond and begin
the process,” Qalibaf said. “But if they want to pursue the path of
war, then naturally, we are fully prepared for that as well.”
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AP writers Michelle L. Price in Washington and Elena Becatoros in
Athens contributed reporting.
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