Trump Says US Needs No Iran Deal, Pulls Vance From Talks

Washington (GNP): US President Donald Trump has said Washington does not need a deal with Iran. On Thursday, he directed Vice President JD Vance to focus on alleged fraud in Democratic-run cities rather than on ending the eight-month war.

The directive came a day after reports that Vance was considering face-to-face talks with a senior Iranian security official. It also followed Vance’s comments blaming the costly war for his party’s heavy defeat in last week’s midterm elections.

Trump’s message marks a change in tone. In recent weeks, he had suggested that Iran would be more willing to strike a deal once the US elections were over.

In a social media post, Trump claimed the US already holds hundreds of billions of dollars of Iran’s money. He also said the US has control of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical shipping route.

He then turned to what he wants Vance to handle instead. Trump asked the vice president to pursue alleged fraud in Democratic-run cities and states, a domestic issue he had earlier placed in Vance’s portfolio. He claimed the national budget could be quickly balanced if such criminal activity were corrected. Vance’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The shift puts Vance in a delicate position. He is seen as a leading contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, and he distanced himself from the war last week after the party’s midterm losses to Democrats.

Outside Washington, others are pushing in the opposite direction. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said diplomacy should resume without further delay to end the conflict. He made the remark after meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a UN climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye.

Erdogan stressed the importance of returning to the negotiating table and said Türkiye will keep supporting peace efforts. He said common ground for agreement must be strengthened, and he expressed hope that the war will end soon.

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The war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones across the region.

Pezeshkian raised the war’s wider costs at the same climate summit on Wednesday. He accused the US and Israel of causing severe environmental damage during the attacks.

Diplomacy has not stopped entirely. Qatar and Pakistan have made continuous efforts to negotiate an end to the war.

Donald Trump said, “We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed.”