President Donald Trump was just one hour away from ordering a new round of military strikes on Iran before last-minute diplomatic developments caused him to hold off, Vice President JD Vance revealed Tuesday while stepping in at the White House briefing room for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is currently on maternity leave.
Vance used his appearance at the podium to underscore the administration’s position that Trump remains committed to reaching a diplomatic agreement with Tehran — but warned that military action remains firmly on the table if negotiations collapse.
“It takes two to tango,” Vance told reporters. “We are not going to have a deal that allows the Iranians to have a nuclear weapon.”
Vance then delivered a stark message about the administration’s posture.
“So as the president just told me, we’re locked and loaded,” he said. “We don’t want to go down that pathway. But the president is willing and able to go down that pathway if we have to.”
According to Vance, the administration sees only two possible outcomes: a negotiated agreement that permanently prevents Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, or a return to military operations aimed at stopping Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We think the Iranians want to make a deal,” Vance said. “The president of the United States has asked us to negotiate in good faith. And that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
But Vance stressed that diplomacy would not come at the expense of Trump’s core demand.
“There’s an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign to continue to prosecute the case, to continue to try to achieve America’s objectives,” he said. “But that’s not what the president wants. And I don’t think it’s what the Iranians want either.”
The comments followed Trump’s own remarks Monday night, when he disclosed how close the administration had come to launching another military operation.
“We were getting ready to do a very major attack [Tuesday], and I put it off for a little while — hopefully maybe forever,” Trump told reporters. “Because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran, and we’ll see what they amount to.”
“There seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out,” he added. “If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I’d be very happy.”
Vance’s appearance at the briefing podium also came amid increasing attention surrounding the Republican Party’s post-Trump future.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made his own highly watched debut in the White House briefing room and received praise from many Republicans — and even some Democrats — for his performance. Rubio has remained highly visible in recent weeks, including accompanying Trump on a major diplomatic trip to China.
Both Rubio and Vance are increasingly viewed as potential leading figures in the party’s next generation and are frequently mentioned as possible contenders to succeed Trump in 2028. Trump himself has fueled the speculation, repeatedly referring to the two men as a potential “dream team.”
Still, Vance has attempted to downplay any discussion about future political ambitions.
“There are few topics that I want to talk about less than what office I’m going to run for years down the road,” Vance said recently. “I’m having a good time and trying to do good work in the job that the American people already elected me to do.”
As Trump weighs diplomacy against the possibility of renewed military action overseas, the administration’s two most prominent rising stars increasingly find themselves stepping into the national spotlight as well.
