JD Vance: Israel has right to self-defense, but war with Iran not in US interests

In the wake of escalating tensions between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Republican vice presidential candidate Senator JD Vance said that while Israel had the right to self-defense, war with Iran was not in US interests.

Vance’s comments came during a Saturday interview on the Tim Dillon Show. 

Vance made the remarks in response to the question about how the Trump administration would handle what may become a massive war in the Middle East, specifically in the context of “getting America back on track and figuring out how to allocate resources.” 

“Israel has the right to defend itself,” Vance affirmed, adding, “America’s interest is sometimes going be distinct.”

“Sometimes we’re going to have overlapping interest, and sometimes we’re going to have a distinct interest,” he noted. 

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/LISI NIESNER/FILE PHOTO)

“And our interest, I think, very much, is in not going to war with Iran.”

“It would be a huge distraction of resources; it would be massively expensive to our country,” Vance added.  

Iran should not have nuclear weapons, Vance says

“I don’t want Iran to get a nuclear weapon,” he added later, adding, “I think we should be strongly encouraging the Iranians […] to not have a nuclear weapon.”

“But we just have to be smart about it,” he noted. 


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“America doesn’t have to constantly police every region of the world,” Vance stated, explaining the rationale behind the Abraham Accords, which were signed during Trump’s presidency and which he described as a “smart diplomacy.”

“We should empower people to police their own regions of the world,” he said.