WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump removed Vice President JD Vance from his role in negotiations with Iran on Thursday, redirecting him toward alleged corruption and crime in Democratic-led states after Vance publicly blamed the war for Republicans’ midterm losses.
The decision sidelines one of the administration’s leading diplomatic figures as the White House faces questions about the conflict’s future and its political consequences. Democrats captured control of both chambers of Congress in last week’s elections, delivering a major setback to Trump’s second-term agenda.
Trump announced the reassignment in a Truth Social post, instructing Vance to concentrate on Democratic-run cities and states. He singled out Minnesota, California and Illinois, accusing their governments of widespread corruption and claiming billions of dollars were being stolen each month. His announcement offered no evidence supporting those allegations.
The president also dismissed the need for a negotiated agreement with Tehran.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump wrote. “Those days have long since passed.”
Trump further claimed the United States controlled hundreds of billions of dollars in Iranian money and the Strait of Hormuz. His statement did not explain the basis or scope of those assertions.
Vance had been a central participant in Washington’s diplomatic engagement with Iran throughout the spring and summer. He traveled to Pakistan in April in an attempt to help end the war, but those negotiations failed to produce a lasting settlement.
His removal follows an unusually direct public assessment of the conflict’s domestic political cost. After the election, Vance argued that Republicans needed to acknowledge the war’s role in their defeat and confront whether its objectives justified the consequences.
“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 wrote. “Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay.”
Trump initially expressed acceptance of Vance’s comments and acknowledged that the war contributed to Republican losses. Thursday’s announcement, however, removed the vice president from the diplomatic assignment at the center of that debate.
The timing raises questions about the relationship between the two men, although Trump did not explicitly describe the reassignment as punishment for Vance’s remarks.
For Vance, widely viewed as a possible Republican presidential contender in 2028, the move changes the focus of his national profile. Instead of helping pursue an agreement abroad, he has been assigned a domestic portfolio built around the president’s accusations against Democratic officials.
The announcement left unresolved who would assume Vance’s negotiating responsibilities, whether other diplomatic channels would remain active and what conditions might bring the conflict to an end.
Neither the White House nor the vice president’s office immediately provided additional details about the transition or the scope of Vance’s new assignment.
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