US Vice President JD Vance has repeatedly privately expressed doubts about the way the US Department of Defense is portraying the war with Iran. In conversations with President Donald Trump, he also expressed his concerns about whether The Pentagon is not downplaying the decline of US missiles. It was reported by The Atlantic magazine, writes TASR.
- Vice President JD Vance privately doubts assessments of war with Iran.
- The Pentagon leadership publicly claims huge Iranian damage and sufficient American stockpiles.
- Vance expresses concern carefully so as not to cause a split in the War Cabinet.
- Intelligence estimates suggest that Iran has retained most of its military capabilities.
- Both Vance and Defense Secretary Hegseth are considering their own future presidential political ambitions.
Both Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine publicly state that the damage suffered by Iranian forces since the start of the war in late February is enormous. According to them, the stocks of weapons in the American arsenals are sufficient.
Vance’s advisers said, according to the magazine, that the picture that Hegseth paints of the war was so positive as to be misleading. According to them, however, the vice president is trying to ensure that his doubts are not perceived as something personal, nor that they lead to a split in Trump’s war cabinet. He says he expresses the concerns as his own without accusing Hegseth or Caine of misleading Trump.
Vance himself said in a statement that the defense secretary is doing a “great job.” An unnamed White House official told the magazine that the vice president “is asking a lot of detailed questions about our strategic planning, as are all members of the president’s national security team.”
In his public statements, Trump repeats many of the positive statements made by his administration officials about the war in Iran. For example, he recently declared that the damage inflicted on US forces was in itself a victory and that the US stockpile of key weapons was “virtually unlimited”.
However, as The Atlantic reported, citing intelligence estimates, favorable statements by Pentagon officials provide, at best, an incomplete picture of the true extent of losses on the Iranian side. According to internal information, Tehran still has two-thirds of its air force, most of its missile launchers, and most of the small fast boats that can lay mines and disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the magazine, some officials believe that Hegseth’s positive portrayal of the situation and sometimes confrontational attitude toward the media are intended to give the president what he wants to hear. The Pentagon press conferences at 08:00 a.m. local time are held at a time when Trump usually watches the Fox News station, in which Hegseth once served as a presenter.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that Hegseth and other officials in the department have consistently provided the president with comprehensive and unbiased information.
Vance, who is known as an opponent of “endless wars”, was skeptical about the reasons for the attack on Iran even before it was launched. Even Trump admitted that the vice president is “perhaps a little less enthusiastic” about the war, which was unleashed by US and Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February.
Several people in Trump’s circle think so, according to the magazine Vance now sees his political future as closely tied to the development of the war. According to American media, he could run for the post of president in the 2028 elections. Similarly, Hegseth reportedly has his own ambitions to run for elected office, perhaps even for the presidency.
