Trump urges Vice President Vance to shift focus from Iran to domestic corruption claims

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States does not need a deal with Iran and asked Vice President JD Vance to direct his full attention to what he described as crime and corruption in Democratic-run cities and states.

The request follows Vance’s recent comments on X blaming the Iran conflict for the Republican losses in the recent midterm elections. Vance wrote that the war was “the reason we lost” and suggested that the cost of losing Senate seats could be debated.

According to reports, Vance had considered attending talks with Iranian officials as part of an effort to revive peace negotiations and had written to Mohsen Rezaei, head of the Iranian Security Council, in October requesting a face-to-face meeting. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times cited U.S. officials as confirming the outreach.

Trump posted on Truth Social, "I have asked Vice President Vance to focus his complete and total attention on the massive corruption and crime taking place in Democrat-run cities and states throughout the U.S. The Blue States, such as Minnesota, California, Illinois, and many more, are all poorly run, corrupt disasters. Billions of dollars are being stolen each and every month. Our budget could be quickly balanced with the correction of this large-scale criminal activity. Corruption is in the Democrat leadership’s blood! We don’t need a deal with Iran."

Trump previously acknowledged that the conflict with Iran contributed to the midterm outcomes but said it was justified to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He told CBS News’s 60 Minutes that he had told Vance to "write what you want" about the issue.