US Vice President JD Vance has said that the United States will not get drawn into a prolonged war in the Middle East, even as President Donald Trump weighs military options against Iran amid ongoing nuclear talks.
Speaking to The Washington Post as he returned to Washington from an event in Wisconsin, Vance dismissed the idea of years of conflict. “The idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen,” he told the Post.
The comments come as the United States and Iran held a third round of indirect negotiations in Geneva on Thursday, a continuation of high-stakes discussions over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iranian officials described the talks as serious and productive, even though disagreements remain.
Vance highlighted last year’s military action in Iran and the January capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as examples of limited, defined operations.
He said those efforts had clear objectives and endpoints.
The US vice president said he still considers himself a “skeptic of foreign military interventions.” “I think we all prefer the diplomatic option,” he told the Post. “But it really depends on what the Iranians do and what they say.”
Asked about lessons from past conflicts, Vance warned against both forgetting and repeating them. “I do think we have to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. I also think that we have to avoid overlearning the lessons of the past,” he said. “Just because one president screwed up a military conflict doesn’t mean we can never engage in military conflict again.”
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the Geneva meeting as an “intensive” session that made progress and suggested another round of talks could happen in about a week.
“Of course, there are still disagreements, which is natural, but compared with the past, both sides are showing greater seriousness in reaching a negotiated solution,” he said in an interview with Iranian state media.
Trump’s State of the Union address raised concerns about Iran’s missile programme and nuclear ambitions, even as officials continue to pursue diplomacy.
