Vance Deflects After CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Asks If Iran War Will End By the Midterms: ‘I Wouldn’t Call it a War’

Vice President JD Vance declined to say Thursday if the Iran conflict would be over by the midterm elections.

More than six months after the United States first unleashed airstrikes on Iran, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about when the conflict would end.

“Will this war be over by the time of the midterm elections?” she asked.

Vance deflected by insisting it’s not a war:

JD VANCE: I don’t, I wouldn’t call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting I recognize there is been places where this has flared up.

Major combat operations. Again, major combat operations lasted for about six weeks, and since then, we destroyed, of course, third nuclear facilities with Midnight Hammer. With Epic Fury, we decided to industrial base for producing weapons and also a lot of the conventional military. And we made it harder for them to rebuild that nuclear program.

But When you ask, when will this end? You’re asking me a question like, when will the Iranians stop shooting at ships? I think the reality is, I don’t know the answer to that question. You’d have to ask the Iranians.

When will the Iranians shooting at ships stop having an effect on world energy markets, question and the answer is it has a less effect day by day. So what we’re going to do is not depend on the Iranians behaving responsibly or negotiating in good faith. But what we’re going to do is use the tools that we have in our disposal to ensure that the American people, one, never have to deal with the threat of an Iranian nuclear program, and, too, the world energy markets are properly supplied.

KAITLAN COLLINS: So it’s up to the Iranians when this war ends?

VANCE: Welcome, if the Iranians keep on but Kaitlin, if the Iranians keep on shooting at commercial ships, again, we have I think, a responsibility, but certainly we’re the only ones with the capability to ensure that the Iranians are not destroying world energy markets.

And attitude is we’re not going to set an artificial timeline because let’s just say hypothetically, let’s say I told you three months, let’s say I told you three days. Okay? And the Iranians start blowing up oil and gas ships, and the United States is the only country with the capability to ensure that those oil and gas ships get to market.

Well, what I would say is it would be irresponsible for us to provide our strategy and our timeline for an Iranian nation that simply cannot honor its commitments and cannot stop the shooting at commercial ships.

The midterms are 61 days away.

The briefing for the White House Press Corps was the first in 40 days.

Most recent Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced her departure from the job Aug. 12, just weeks after returning from maternity leave following the birth of her second child.

Leavitt, 29, was the youngest person to hold the position and her exit sent shockwaves through the political world.

Her replacement has yet to be announced.

Conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings was rumored to have been interested in the gig but publicly denied the speculation.

Jennings allegedly sent clips of himself to the White House defending presidential aide Natalie Harp after she became the center of a political firestorm last month, when Sen. Jon Ossof (D-GA) quipped during a campaign rally that Trump wanted to “travel with Natalie” rather than do his job.

Trump however, is “not sold” on the idea of Jennings in the role, according to a report.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!