The U.S. should no longer seek a deal with Iran, President Donald Trump said Thursday as he directed Vice President JD Vance to instead focus his attention on corruption and crime in Democratic cities and states.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!” Trump wrote, referring to the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint in the ongoing U.S.-Iran war.
The announcement came just over a week after Republicans suffered huge losses in the midterm election. Vance and other Republicans have pinned those losses on the Iran war, which the U.S. and Israel started in late February.
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Trump repeatedly suggested the U.S. could resume launching military strikes, which have largely subsided as a tense stalemate has taken hold in the region.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Vance, who has led diplomatic efforts with Iran in prior months, was considering face-to-face talks with a top Iranian security official.
Stock futures declined following Trump’s post.
The unpopular Iran war, which Trump and others in his administration said would be won in a matter of weeks, is now in its ninth month with no clear end in sight. The conflict region has driven up global energy prices, creating a ripple effect through the economy and exacerbating concerns about inflation and affordability that were paramount to voters in the midterms.
Corruption emerged as another top issue that broke in Democrats’ favor in the election. Trump’s post Thursday morning attempts to flip the script, blaming Democratic-run areas for allowing corruption and crime to proliferate.
“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.,” Trump wrote.
“The Blue States, such as Minnesota, California, Illinois, and many more, are all poorly run, corrupt disasters. Billions of Dollars is being stolen each and every month,” the president wrote. “Our Budget could be quickly BALANCED with the correction of this large scale criminal activity.”
“CORRUPTION is in the Democrat Leadership’s blood!” he added.
