JD Vance has taken the greatest gamble of his vice-presidency by making himself the face of the Iran ceasefire deal – a shaky agreement that already seems to be unraveling at the seams.
But after months spent in limbo due to the war, it may be the best chance for him to find his feet again.
A funk had set over the US vice-president’s camp since the administration launched its war in Iran in February. Vance, a vocal opponent of the “forever wars” of the previous administrations (he had served as a combat correspondent in Iraq), was now being forced to defend the largest US military intervention in the Middle East in a generation. In public, he had been left out of the war room at Mar-a-Lago and appeared to be distanced from the Iran war planning. In private, journalists were being briefed on his opposition to the war.
