JD Vance’s Struggling to Stop Trump from Attacking Iran

Washington is bracing for another foreign-policy shock as President Donald Trump inches toward authorizing military strikes on Iran. And this time, insiders say, Vice President JD Vance is working overtime to talk him down.

Multiple senior officials tell The Daily Report that Vance has spent days urging the president to pause, reassess, and consider diplomacy before escalating a volatile standoff already rattling global markets.

“Everyone knows the president is frustrated and angry,” one administration official said. “But the vice president is telling him, ‘Let’s not walk into another war.’”

Trump has not been easy to sway. The 79-year-old president is reportedly furious over Iran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests and is leaning toward a forceful response. His aides say he believes a strike would “send a message” to the regime.

This comes just weeks after Trump authorized a surprise raid in Venezuela that ended with the dramatic capture of its president, a move that stunned even some allies.

Vance, 41, is now trying to hold the line.

“He’s telling the president this isn’t 2025 anymore, and the world is watching how far we’re willing to go,” a second official said. “He’s trying to slow the train.”

On the campaign trail, Trump and Vance sold themselves as leaders who would end America’s endless wars. They used the “America First” slogan as a pledge to keep U.S. troops out of foreign quagmires.

But inside the West Wing, aides say Trump has grown increasingly impatient with Tehran, especially after ordering U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last summer. That operation drew backlash from both anti-war Republicans and some of Trump’s core MAGA supporters.

Still, Trump doesn’t appear shaken.

“Iran wants to negotiate. Maybe we meet,” the president told reporters Sunday. “But we may have to act before the meeting. What they’re doing is unacceptable.”

He also announced a sweeping 25 percent tariff on any country conducting business with Iran. “We’re tightening the screws,” he said.

Trump will meet with senior advisers Tuesday to choose from a menu of options, ranging from cyber attacks to new sanctions to full-scale strikes.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, are not staying silent.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered a stark warning Monday.

“We are not looking for war,” he said. “But we are prepared for war. If America strikes us, we will respond against Israel and every U.S. base in the region.”

A senior Iranian military adviser, speaking to state media, added, “If the United States believes we will sit quietly, they are deeply mistaken.”

The fear inside the Pentagon: a single U.S. strike could trigger a regional conflict that pulls in Israel, Gulf states, and multiple proxy forces.

“This isn’t a video game,” one former intelligence official said. “Once it starts, you don’t control the ending.”

Iran’s protests erupted in late December after the country’s currency collapsed, wiping out household savings overnight. The unrest quickly spread from Tehran’s Grand Bazaar to dozens of cities, morphing into the largest uprising since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Human rights groups say at least 646 protesters have been killed, including nine children. Thousands more have been detained.

“The regime is terrified,” said a researcher with Human Rights Activists News Agency. “And when authoritarian states get scared, they get violent.”

Trump has privately told aides the images out of Iran remind him of Syria in 2013 — a moment he believes President Obama handled “weakly,” according to one official. “He keeps saying he won’t repeat that mistake.”

The internal debate is fierce.

Vance is backed by some senior staffers who warn that striking Iran while protesters are in the streets may actually help the regime.

“If the U.S. bombs them now, the government will say the demonstrations are an American plot,” an official told The Daily Report. “It could crush the movement completely.”

Others argue the opposite: that failing to act will show weakness.

Trump, according to aides, is caught somewhere in between — eager to project strength, but aware of the political risks as he prepares for the second half of his term.

One adviser summed it up bluntly: “The president likes bold moves. He thinks they work.”

For now, the West Wing waits for Tuesday’s meeting, where Trump will make his choice.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.