Washington:
US Vice President JD Vance is reportedly worried that the Pentagon might not be giving accurate information about the Iran war to President Donald Trump, according to a report. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine have been raving about the US military’s performance in the eight-week-old conflict, insisting they inflicted a severe blow to Iran’s air force, navy and defensive infrastructure, and the American weapons stockpiles remain high.Â
But in closed-door meetings, The Atlantic reported, Vance has “repeatedly questioned” the reality of those claims, asking whether the rosy portrayal of the war being presented to Trump is really the truth and whether the Pentagon has understated what appears to be the drastic depletion of US missile stockpiles.
Vance Sceptical Of Hegseth?
Citing senior administration officials, the report said that the vice president has queried the accuracy of the information the Pentagon has provided about the war and expressed concerns about the availability of certain missile systems in discussions with President Trump, expressing fear that a shortage of munitions reserves could have consequences in potential future run-ins with China, North Korea, or Russia.
Vance “has presented his concerns as his own rather than accusing Hegseth or Caine of misleading the president,” the report said. Even in his public statements, Vance has praised the Pentagon chief, saying he “is doing a great job,” and cited Hegseth’s work with Trump to ensure a “warrior ethos” in the military’s top ranks.Â
But in private, a White House official told The Atlantic that Vance “asks a lot of probing questions about our strategic planning, as do all of the members of the President’s national security team.”
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“Vance is trying, the advisers suggested, to avoid making this personal or to create divisions in Trump’s war cabinet. Some of Vance’s confidantes, however, believe that Hegseth’s portrayal has been so positive as to be misleading,” they said.Â
Some Trump officials quoted in the report suggested that the Pentagon chief’s combative approach to press conferences and upbeat messaging is likely designed to “give the president what he wants to hear”. They noted that Hegseth’s briefings typically take place at 8 am, when the president is known to watch Fox News.
“Pete’s TV experience has made him really skilled at knowing how to talk to Trump and how Trump thinks,” one former Trump official told The Atlantic.
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Vance’s Opinion Of War
There have been discrepancies in Hegseth’s claims and internal intelligence assessments of the damage to Iran in the war. Like Trump, Hegseth has claimed that the Iranian military was decimated and its airspace was in the “complete control” of the US.
However, US findings have indicated that Tehran has managed to retain around two-thirds of its air force, the majority of its missile-launching capabilities and even the small, fast boats, which were used for laying mines and choking the traffic along the Strait of Hormuz, stalling maritime commerce and ramping up the economic pressure on the aggressor.
At the same time, think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies has said that its assessments indicate that the US has already burnt through more than half of its supplies of several key munitions.
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Vance’s Future Tied To War?Â
This is not the first time reports have claimed Vance has questioned the US action in Iran. Earlier this month, a report claimed that even before the commencement of Operation Epic Fury on February 28, Vance was one of the cabinet members who spoke out against it, saying war was a bad idea that would lead to mass casualties and regional chaos. He has argued that America’s interests are best served by prioritising resources at home.Â
But the vice president has multiple factors to balance — including his desire to work smoothly with other senior officials, his track record of opposing “forever wars”, and his prospects should he mount a presidential run in 2028. He has reportedly come to believe that his political future hangs in the balance on the outcome of the Iran conflict.
Vance was Trump’s trusted negotiator to lead the unsuccessful first round of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, earlier this month and almost jetted out for a second round this week before they were called off.
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