Vance advice to Trump on Iran attack included reservations

Vice President JD Vance argued in favor of a large-scale attack on Iran in the lead-up to Saturday’s strikes on the country but also expressed reservations about military attacks in general, according to reporting by the New York Times.

Vance reportedly said during a meeting in the White House’s Situation Room on Feb. 18 that launching a limited strike on Iran would be a mistake, arguing the U.S. should “go big and go fast” if it was going to attack the Middle Eastern nation.

The Times reported that Trump had appeared to be leaning toward a strategy favoring a smaller strike, but that Vance’s argument impacted his view on the matter.

Vance has long been perceived as an anti-interventionalist, along with many of Trump’s “America First” allies. The president himself campaigned on keeping the U.S. out of prolonged military conflicts abroad.

Trump and members of his administration have laid out what they say are the president’s “objectives” in striking Iran, including destroying the country’s missiles and Navy, ensuring that Iranian proxies can no longer pose a threat to U.S. interests and the Middle East, and preventing Tehran from rebuilding its nuclear weapons program.

“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people,” Trump said at the White House on Monday.

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