WASHINGTON −President Donald Trump signaled he plans to wind down negotiations with Iran, saying a deal with Tehran is not needed, as he pulled Vice President JD Vance off diplomatic efforts to broker a peace deal to end the war in Iran.
Trump said he asked Vance, who has been leading negotiations
with Iran, to instead focus his "complete and total attention" on tackling alleged crime and corruption in Democratic-led cities."We don’t need a deal with Iran," Trump said in a Nov. 12 post on Truth Social. "Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!"
The move raises major questions about the future
of a conflict that started in February with U.S. airstrikes. Trump earlier this week backed off threats of further military escalation. The war has upended the global supply of oil from the Middle East and resulted in the deaths of 23 U.S. service members.
In recent weeks, Trump said repeatedly he believed Iran would be ready to agree to a deal to end the war after the U.S. midterm election, which took place Nov. 3. Amid high gas prices caused by the war, Democrats won control of both the House and Senate in a sweeping repudiation of Trump's second term.
Trump's directive to Vance came one day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance was considering face-to-face negotiations with a top Iran security official to advance negotiations after the vice president blamed the war for Republicans' massive losses in the midterms.
Trump on Nov. 9 told reporters it "won't be necessary" to escalate the monthslong war in Iran, suggesting that neither a military escalation nor diplomacy is needed to achieve U.S. aims. Instead, the president said he believes the ongoing U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and economic sanctions are working − and that he intends to keep those policies in place.
"Iran, militarily, is effectively over. We're just keeping it the status quo," Trump said.
The U.S. military can continue escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said in a "60 Minutes" interview taped Nov. 6, arguing that unspecified countries in the region would help cover the costs.
Trump has long said his main goal is to ensure Iran does not have nuclear capability.
Vance, widely seen as skeptical of the war with Iran, helped orchestrate a tentative peace deal with Iran in June that quickly fell apart after Iran failed to follow through on several of its commitments.
In a Nov. 4 post-midterm analysis on X, Vance blamed Republicans' losses, above all, on the war on Iran, which Trump defended throughout the campaign, even as gas prices spiked as a result of the conflict.
"The reason we lost is the war," Vance said. "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. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest."
Contributing: Reuters; Francesca Chambers and Miles J. Herszenhorn of USA TODAY
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says deal with Iran not needed, pulls Vance off negotiations
