US Vice President JD Vance declined to say whether the conflict with Iran would conclude before November's midterm elections, telling reporters at the White House that the Trump administration would not commit to any timeline while Iranian forces continued targeting commercial shipping.
Asked directly whether the confrontation would be resolved by the midterms, Vance first pushed back on the premise of the question. "I wouldn't call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting," he said, though he acknowledged that "there have been places where this has flared up."
He noted that major combat operations had lasted around six weeks, during which US strikes, under operations he named Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury, had destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities, its defence industrial base and much of its conventional military capability, while setting back Tehran's ability to rebuild its nuclear programme.
On when hostilities might end, Vance said the real question was when Iran would stop firing on commercial vessels, adding, "I don't know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians."
He said the disruption to global energy markets was diminishing "day by day," but that Washington would not rely on Tehran "behaving responsibly or negotiating in good faith."
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Pressed on whether the war's end was effectively in Iran's hands, Vance said the United States held primary responsibility for keeping energy markets functioning as long as Iran kept "shooting at commercial ships."
He rejected the idea of announcing a fixed timeline, using a hypothetical to illustrate his reasoning: were the administration to promise resolution within three months or three days, and Iran subsequently attacked oil and gas vessels regardless, that commitment would collapse.
"It would be irresponsible for us to write out our strategy and our timeline for an Iranian nation that simply cannot honour its commitments and cannot stop shooting at commercial ships," he said.
Vance's remarks come as Washington and Tehran remain locked in months of confrontation centred on the Strait of Hormuz, with no active negotiations currently under way between the two sides.
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