J.D. Vance denied on on Tuesday that he made the remarks attributed to him in The Atlantic’s report on the war in Iran, even as he said he had every reason to press questions about U.S. readiness. The vice president said he read the piece because it claimed he had said things he was “100 percent certain” he never said.
“Most of these reports I ignore. This one I actually read because it ascribed views to me and things that I had allegedly said that I am just 100 percent certain that I have never said,” Vance said on Will Cain’s show. He added, “Now to answer your question, Will, of course I am concerned about our readiness, because that is my job to be concerned,” and, “It’s of course my job to ask these questions.” He also said, “Don’t believe everything you read, especially in papers like The Atlantic.”
The Atlantic reported earlier this week that during private meetings Vance had repeatedly questioned the Defense Department’s description of the war in Iran and whether the Pentagon was understating what it said was a drastic depletion of U.S. missile stockpiles. The magazine described his response as a confirmation-denial: he rejected the specific reporting while backing the broader idea that a vice president should challenge military assumptions.
The clash lands amid a wartime split that has been visible for weeks. Two months ago, as the campaign against Iran began, Vance made himself scarce while Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared often with Trump. Trump later said Vance was “maybe less enthusiastic” about the war than other advisers. Vance has shown ideological flexibility over the years, but he has consistently opposed foreign military interventions, and his posture toward the Iran campaign fit that pattern.
That distance did not keep him out of the diplomacy. Iran specifically requested Vance as an interlocutor for negotiations, and Tehran has since secured a cease-fire without giving up control of the Strait of Hormuz or abandoning its nuclear program. The Atlantic also said questions about U.S. missile stockpiles have been raised elsewhere inside the administration, in Congress and beyond, making Vance’s denial less a refutation of the concern than a fight over whether he said it out loud. What his appearance on Fox made clear is that he is defending both positions at once: he says he never made the remarks, and he says concern about readiness is exactly his job.
