President Trump said on Thursday that he had pulled Vice President JD Vance back from engaging in potential peace talks with Iran, saying that his time would be better spent investigating fraud in Democratic-run jurisdictions.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media. “Those days have long since passed.”
The post deepens questions about what Mr. Trump’s plan is to end the war. The president has been weighing a number of options, including ramping up military strikes, withdrawing and leaving the matter to Arab allies or simply maintaining the status quo.
It also signals a pivot on his instructions to Mr. Vance, after the vice president publicly blamed the war for the Republican Party’s devastating midterm election losses.
Mr. Trump had assigned Mr. Vance, who privately expressed opposition to going to war with Iran, to lead negotiations earlier this year. The vice president traveled to Pakistan in April and met with Iranian leaders in a marathon session that ended without any resolution.
Mr. Vance recently contacted a top Iranian political and military official to propose a renewal of comprehensive peace negotiations. In a letter sent from Mr. Vance via Qatari mediators to Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and former commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the vice president suggested that American and Iranian officials meet soon, adding that he would lead the talks for the United States.
But Mr. Trump said on Thursday that he was ending that effort.
“I have asked Vice President Vance to focus his complete and total attention on the Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S.,” he wrote on social media.
While there is a high-profile fraud investigation in Minnesota that has resulted in scores of arrests, federal data does not support the president’s suggestion that fraud is more prevalent under Democrats than Republicans. Mr. Trump also has granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors and others convicted in fraud cases, often involving high-dollar totals.
Shortly after Republicans suffered heavy losses in the midterm elections, Mr. Vance placed the blame for Republicans’ wipeout in the midterm elections squarely on the war with Iran, offering a striking critique of the Trump administration’s agenda and messaging.
“The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote in a social media post, adding, “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so.”
Mr. Trump told reporters that he was not upset by the post. “A lot of people didn’t like his comments,” he said. “But not me.”
Mr. Trump’s announcement on Thursday adds further uncertainty to an already muddled situation with Iran. The United States and Iran have recently avoided large-scale fighting, but skirmishes, a naval blockade and a struggle for control of the Strait of Hormuz have continued.
If Mr. Trump wants to ramp up the war again, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have presented the president with a menu of military options that Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, developed in recent months.
But in a recent “60 Minutes” interview, Mr. Trump suggested he was no longer worried about the country’s nuclear capabilities, his stated reason for starting the war.
Still, the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil and gas shipping waterway that Iran closed after the United States and Israel began the war, remains contested.
In response, the United States has set up a naval blockade that prevents Iran from exporting oil, while American escorts and patrols try to ensure that a healthy amount of non-Iranian oil gets through each day.
About two weeks ago, Iran said it was prepared to fully reopen the strait in two days if the United States agreed to a set of demands.
After the midterm elections, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote on social media: “American voters have made their choice. Time for the White House to make its own.”
“Our 2-day proposal stands: meet the requirements, including end to war on all fronts, and you will see results,” he wrote. “Or choose war, and see our alert and battle-hardened Warriors rain down hell.”
