Vance says U.S. will back American interests over Israel in Iran war

JD Vance drew a sharp line between U.S. policy and Israel’s war aims, saying President Donald Trump had been “very clear about what is in our best interest” as the conflict with Iran strained the relationship. He said the two countries shared interests but were “not always in sync,” and added that Washington would stand with “the American people” if American and Israeli priorities diverged.

The vice president said the administration’s central objective was to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but he also made plain that Benjamin Netanyahu was not getting everything right. Vance said Netanyahu had “certainly gotten some things wrong,” then declined to spell out the disagreements in public, saying those conversations were better handled privately.

That caution underscored how far the alliance has been pulled into the open. Reporting in March described a tense call in which Vance challenged Netanyahu’s optimism that the war could quickly lead to regime change in Iran, a view U.S. officials saw as overly confident. Trump has also publicly criticized Netanyahu over Israeli strikes on Lebanon, even while saying his relationship with the Israeli leader remained strong.

The split is landing in a political climate that is shifting fast. A Pew survey published June 9 found that 59% of Americans opposed the U.S. decision to attack Iran, while 75% of Israelis said Washington made the right call and 80% of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem said it was wrong. Earlier this year, Gallup found for the first time in its decades of polling that more Americans sympathized with Palestinians than Israelis, 41% to 36%, with the change driven largely by independents.

For Trump, the stakes go beyond rhetoric. The White House is still trying to push a long-term Iran deal that U.S. officials say could be a “home run” for Americans even if Israel objects. Vance’s comments showed that, in a war already redefining the region’s fault lines, the administration is preparing to separate support for Israel from automatic alignment with Netanyahu.