A man in demand these days: US Vice President JD Vance could even travel to Pakistan next week to negotiate an end to the war.Image: keystone
A phone call between Israel’s prime minister and JD Vance escalated this week. Nevertheless, Vance is now supposed to lead the negotiations with Iran.
March 29, 2026, 4:39 p.mMarch 29, 2026, 4:39 p.m
Simon Maurer / ch media
There was a lot of tension between JD Vance and Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a report from the US portal Axios Vance shouted at the Israeli prime minister over the phone, accusing him of being far too optimistic about the prospects of success in the war against Iran – particularly the illusion of rapid regime change. Netanyahu pushed Trump into war with false claims.
“Our interest is clearly not to start a war with Iran.”
JD Vance, two years ago
The phone call marks the latest episode in a dispute that has long strained the alliance between the United States and Israel. Trump’s Vice President Vance is the spokesman for the faction within the US government that vehemently opposes American interventions in foreign countries. Vance said just two years ago: “Our interest is clearly not to start a war with Iran.” Otherwise that would be “a huge waste of resources” and “extremely expensive for our country”. But Israel needs help from the USA to hold its own against Iran.
He thinks something different than what he tells voters
Publicly, Vance has changed his mind and now defends the US attack on Iran. On Saturday he told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that the effort was necessary. President Donald Trump will “continue the operation for a while” in order to sustainably weaken Tehran. The currently high gasoline prices are only “a very short-term reaction to what will ultimately be a short conflict.”
But behind the scenes a different picture emerges. Several advisors from Trump’s environment report to US mediaVance was critical of the military intervention from the start and argued against it internally. This fits with previous reports about leaked chat messages that he was against Trump’s attacks on the Houthis last year.
This can be explained with Vance’s biography. The 41-year-old served in Iraq for six months in 2005. From Al-Asad Air Base, he wrote about U.S. Marine operations for military publications and local newspapers.
Al-Asad Air Base
screenshot az
As he accompanied soldiers on special missions, he saw firsthand how far removed the Bush administration’s optimistic pronouncements were from the reality of war.
The six months in the Middle East became a key experience for Vance. In his book “Hillbilly Elegy” he describes how he went to Iraq as an idealist and returned as a skeptic. Not only did the war itself sober him, but also the experience that the goals of the American intervention had less and less to do with the situation on the ground. This also explains his reflex, which still characterizes him today: deep distrust of military adventures abroad and of the elites in Washington who sell such wars with big promises.
The Christian fundamentalist Vance should fix it
Not surprisingly, Vance is now leading the isolationist wing of his party, which wants to end the current Iran war as quickly as possible – if in doubt, without the mullahs’ regime being eliminated. This contradicts the interest of the Israeli leadership around Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects negotiations with the Iranians and wants to continue the military mission until Israel’s security is guaranteed. Additional animosity arises from Vance’s hesitant stance against anti-Semitic voices on the Republican right.
The problem for Netanyahu now is that Vance is suddenly supposed to take over the negotiations on the American side. So far, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff have taken the lead on behalf of the US government – including in the direct negotiations with Iran in Geneva.
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in a conversation with Oman’s foreign minister.Image: keystone
But this duo has lost the trust of Iranian negotiators after the US and Israel launched the war against Iran rather unexpectedly on a Saturday morning. Now, of all people, isolationist Vance is supposed to take the coals out of the fire. “The Iranians react to him a little better,” Trump explained the castling in a speech.
The new peace negotiations officially started in Pakistan on Sunday. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey are meeting in the capital Islamabad to negotiate indirectly in the interests of the warring parties. According to insiders, there is speculation as to whether JD Vance could also travel for the US side. In any case, this will be an extraordinary balancing act for the war opponent Vance. (aargauerzeitung.ch)