JD Vance, once known for skepticism of foreign wars, is now the public face of a tentative Trump agreement to end the Iran war. With the U.S. releasing the deal’s text after backlash and Vance expected to travel to Switzerland for a new round of negotiations,
When JD Vance was supposed to spend the week promoting his new book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” the message crowded out everything else he put his name on.
The tentative deal to end the Iran war—signed by President Donald Trump with Tehran—has become the defining focus of his public schedule. and the Republican vice president has leaned hard into the role of chief defender of the agreement. He has given a series of interviews touting the memorandum of understanding as a success and released a video championing it.
It is a striking turn for a politician who previously drew attention for skepticism of foreign military interventions and appeared reluctant to speak about the conflict when Trump launched it in late February. Now, Vance is poised to travel to Switzerland on Friday to kick off a new phase of negotiations with Iran.
The trip comes after the signing timeline shifted. Vance was originally expected to attend a formal signing ceremony for the deal, but Trump formally signed it on Wednesday.
The political bet embedded in that scramble is clear to many inside the party: if the agreement succeeds, Vance can claim credit for helping end an unpopular conflict. If it doesn’t, Trump has already joked about where the blame will go.
“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump said on Wednesday.
The White House has tried to insulate Vance from the scramble by elevating his role. In a statement. it called Vance the president’s “right-hand man and an invaluable member of the President’s talented national security team.” The statement also said Vance was trusted to lead the negotiations alongside Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said in the same statement that “what President Trump and his team achieved on the battlefield and at the negotiating table is nothing short of remarkable and will strengthen American security for years to come.”
But backlash began growing this week even before the full picture was in view. The U.S. digitally signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran on Sunday. Conservatives and lawmakers bristled as the timing of when the text would be released kept changing, and leaked drafts then surfaced.
The criticism—coming from Democratic and Republican lawmakers as well as Israel and pro-Israel advocates—centered on the concern that the deal appeared to offer Iran wins up front while guaranteeing little in return. Critics also argued that Trump’s stated reason for launching the conflict. to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. still seemed unresolved.
Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for the vice president, pushed back in a statement: “It’s unfortunate that some Republicans are attempting to undermine the President’s efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East and ensure Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”
Vance, meanwhile, has reiterated that Iran must meet its obligations. On Tuesday, he told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” “If they don’t behave properly, they don’t get any of the benefits of this bargain.”
On Wednesday, after mounting questions, the U.S. provided the text of the agreement to journalists.
The agreement states that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium—believed to be buried under rubble—must, at minimum, be diluted under international supervision. It also states that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons, a commitment the country has made previously.
Beyond those points, the agreement sets up what it leaves unfinished. It says the U.S. and Iran will negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, but “other commitments still need to be worked out.”
Criticism on the right did not fade with the text’s release.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson. a hawk who has defended the war. said Wednesday: “This is an American surrender.” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. a potential 2028 presidential candidate. criticized the agreement and told reporters. “I think the president. unfortunately. is receiving bad advice.”.
As the Iran conflict enters its fourth month. the dispute is also deepening political fault lines inside Trump’s broad coalition. The effort has angered both those who wanted a harder line against Iran and those drawn to Trump’s “America First” foreign policy underscored by a message of “no new wars.”.
Some Republicans have also started pointing fingers in Vance’s direction, questioning whether the deal resembles the 2015 nuclear agreement struck by Democratic President Barack Obama and whether the new agreement achieves Trump’s stated objectives for launching the war.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. a Trump ally and Iran hawk. had been skeptical of the agreement and referred to Vance on social media as “the architect of the deal.” After the agreement was released. Graham issued a tepid statement of support saying. “Whether or not the United States can reach an acceptable. verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined. but I see little downside to trying.”.
Ben Domenech. The Daily Wire’s opinion editor. said on Fox News that everything he was hearing about the deal “seems bad” and appeared to cast blame on Vance by alluding to Vance’s first book. “Hillbilly Elegy.” Domenech asked. “Are we going to backslide into being some kind of ‘hillbilly Obama’ kind of GOP?”.
Even as critics circle, Vance’s allies insist he can handle the politics around the deal.
The Trump administration has not offered formal briefings to Congress on the memorandum’s details. but Vance has quietly started outreach to some Republican senators on Capitol Hill. Sen. Bernie Moreno. R-Ohio. a close ally of Vance’s. said the vice president would be able to assuage even critics within his own party who are skeptical of the deal because “JD is just the president’s messenger. and the president’s going to prove them all wrong.”.
Sen. Kevin Cramer. R-N.D. said the deal “certainly adds to the national security and geopolitical chops” of Vance. noting that Vance spent two years as a U.S. senator for Ohio before ascending to the vice presidency. Cramer also acknowledged the risks: “I guess the nice thing is, if you’re not the No. 1 person, you can take credit and avoid risk, avoid the criticism, but probably not so easily.”.
Vance. in interviews this week. has tried to draw a line between the Iran conflict and the Iraq war. where he served as a Marine. On Megyn Kelly’s show. he said critics “believe Iranian propaganda” about the deal. while also acknowledging frustrations on the hawkish right and trying to reassure anti-interventionists that the situation isn’t the same.
“We were never going to get the quagmire that a lot of people were worrying about because Donald Trump is just not George W. Bush,” he said.
Democrats, though, have emphasized that Vance being the face of the agreement may not keep him from becoming a political casualty if it unravels.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said Democrats expect the outcome to define careers across the administration, arguing, “I think any member of this administration is going to rise or fall on the basis of the Iran war and the handling of the economy, and I don’t think there are exceptions.”
For Vance, the calendar now turns quickly toward Switzerland. The tentative deal that has already triggered backlash at home is moving into a new negotiating phase on Friday—and with it. the question of whether Vance’s decision to embrace the agreement publicly will translate into political power. or instead lead to the kind of fallout Trump hinted at when he joked that blame would land on him if things go wrong.
JD Vance Donald Trump Iran negotiations Switzerland talks memorandum of understanding highly enriched uranium nuclear weapons Lindsey Graham Ted Cruz Marco Rubio