Vance to take over peace negotiations with Iran?

News this morning indicates that the latest gambit to draw an end to our “military conflict” in Iran is… send in Ohio’s very own JD Vance!

The White House has confirmed it:

The White House has sent messages to the Iranians that Trump is serious about the negotiations, and floated Vice President JD Vance’s possible involvement in the talks as proof. Two sources said Witkoff recommended Vance because of the stature of his office and because the Iranians don’t see him as a hawk.

The Iranians want it:

“The perception is that Vance would be intent on wrapping up the conflict” as opposed to Kushner, Witkoff or Secretary of State Marco Rubio… “Vance is preferred. They don’t want to work with Jared and Witkoff because they stabbed them in the back,” the source told The Telegraph. 

Apparently, Secdef (or whatever he’s calling himself these days) Hegseth doesn’t much like this. Despite having repositioned himself ahead of 2024 as an anti-interventionist (amusing for all of us who remember him shilling for the Iraq War two decades ago), Hegseth was quoted by Axios saying, “We negotiate with bombs,” literally in the Oval Office.

We’ll see what happens. On our read (admittedly more informed by people close to Vance than people close to Trump), Trump wants an off-ramp because rising fuel prices are further imperiling the chances of Republicans holding the House and Senate. But locating and taking an off-ramp presumes the Iranians want to cut any kind of a deal, and that’s far from clear from where we’re sitting (or maybe we’ve bought the Rubio-aligned neocon hype).

All of this could help set Vance up even better for 2028. Or it could make him look like an appeaser-clown who can’t get a deal even under favorable circumstances, and strengthen Rubio’s hand walking into 2028.

Stay tuned!