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Vance Seeks To Assure Trump Base Iran War Entering “Much Different Phase”

September 17, 2026

Vice President JD Vance – who was said to have opposed launching Operation Epic Fury from the beginning – has issued some fresh statements on the future of the Iran conflict which sound a bit off-rampy.

He could just be voicing his own wishful thinking, however, in proclaiming the conflict will soon enter “a much different phase” in the coming months. He still conceded that ultimately it’s the Commander-in-Chief who decides when it will end (though it would be nice of Congress or the American people had a word).

President Trump had just last week stated his view that hostilities will wrap up after the November mid-term elections, and Vance appeared to try and defend the statement.

“We can’t predict the future, but I think the [US] President [Donald Trump] is right to say that this thing [the conflict in Iran – TASS] will enter a much different phase in a couple of months,” he told New York Post in an interview.

Vance described that the US military had already completed the first phase, which the Vice President described as to “destroy the nuclear program” of Iran as well as “their conventional military.”

“And then the second phase of this is ensure that they’re not able to rebuild and try to maintain as much global stability in the wake of that,” he said.

But as far as destruction of conventional military, the Iranians have clearly been lobbing large quantities of ballistic missiles at US bases in Jordan, for example just earlier this month during the last flare-up in fighting. This occurred overnight from Sept.8-9, and saw Iran fire some 20 ballistic missiles.

As for “rebuilding” – well, Tehran is proudly and defiantly asserting that it is currently doing just that. According to The Wall Street Journal citing US officials a week ago:

Iran has resumed its production of ballistic missiles using stockpiled components and working in underground facilities, officials from the U.S. and Middle East familiar with the matter said, eroding what the U.S. and Israel have touted as a major achievement of the war.

Despite heavy attacks on its missile sites and industrial facilities during the initial phase of the war, Iran has been busy assembling liquid-propellant missiles, which have to be fueled just before launch, as well as solid-propellant missiles, which can be stored ready to fire, some of the officials said.

The US administration has repeatedly claimed to have destroyed or else severely set back Iran’s advanced missile arsenal – and yet they keep on firing.

Read: Bombshell Leaks Seek To Distance ‘Skeptical’ JD Vance From Iran War

Below: As war expands, US scrambles to contain the fallout and damage, also after Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline was hit in a drone attack (out of either Iraq or possibly Yemen):

Vance says US is in direct contact with Yemen’s Houthis as well as with Saudi Arabia and the UAE over recent developments there pic.twitter.com/C1EM7Lmthn

— Joseph Haboush (@jhaboush) September 14, 2026

Many pundits have also pointed out that Iran’s Islamic revolutionary government has essentially been preparing for this war with the US and Israel for several decades. And clearly Washington was woefully underprepared for the Iranian retaliation.