Trump contradicts Vance, says nukes, not oil prices, No. 1 priority in Iran
President Donald Trump contradicted Vice President JD Vance on Monday after the vice president asserted last week that the administration's top priority amid the Iran war was to keep the price of oil and gas down for Americans.
In a social media post on Monday morning, Trump said that the "number one Goal is, and always will be" that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon.
Last Thursday, Vance laid out a different order of priorities on Fox News, saying that "goal No. 1" for the administration amid the war was to "keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country."
"And then obviously, goal No. 2 is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," he added. "I feel confident we're accomplishing both of those goals."
Vance's comments about prioritizing gas prices diverge from the president's stated mission of eliminating Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. And while some Republicans have acknowledged gas prices are too high, Trump said he won't apologize for it.
In the past, the president had outright rejected the idea that the domestic American economy should factor into military decisions around Iran.
"Not even a little bit," Trump said back in May when asked to what extent financial pressure on Americans was motivating him to strike a deal.
"The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon," he added. "I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, that's all."
Asked about Vance's comments aboard Air Force One last Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that "both goals are equally as important to the president."
"Of course, we want to keep gas prices low. That's why the administration has done so much to keep the markets stable, but also ensuring Iran can never get a nuclear weapon is the president's priority with respect to the ongoing conflict, and it's something he's going to see through one way or another," she added.
Trump's apparent rebuke of the vice president came just minutes after "Fox and Friends" anchor Lawrence Jones reacted to Vance's comments during the program's Monday morning broadcast, and called for "more clarity" from the White House on the U.S. objectives. Roughly eight minutes later, the president posted his message.
"It also looks like we got an answer from the president about what is priority No. 1 for the United States," Jones said about an hour later in the broadcast as he relayed the details of the president's post.
A White House official on Monday dismissed any characterization that there was a contradiction, saying the"media is attempting to drive a wedge" between the president and vice president "when they are on exactly the same page."
The official pointed to comments the vice president made earlier during the interview, in which he relayed the top American objectives in a different order.
"The thing I can say with confidence is I think this ends with the United States in a stronger position, with Iran not having a nuclear weapon, and with the Strait of Hormuz returned to a place where oil and gas prices are stable for the American people," Vance said when asked what an end to the war would look like.
While the status of the Strait of Hormuz has become a central focus of the war -- injecting volatility into the global energy market even as the conflict between the two countries has ebbed and flowed -- Trump has repeatedly argued that the cost of not intervening in Iran would far outweigh the higher gas prices Americans are dealing with now.
The average price of a gallon of regular is $4.02 according to GasBuddy, up 7 cents form last week and up more than a dollar per gallon since the start of the war.
Speaking at the New York police academy last Friday, Trump told the gathered crowd that he would not apologize for the price of gas.
"[Iran's] the No. 1 state sponsor of terror in the world. We don't want to have them have nuclear weapons," Trump said. "So remember that when you have to pay a little bit more, you're at $4. It's OK. I mean, it's, I'm not -- I'm not -- I will never apologize. I did the right thing."
