President Donald Trump undermined his own Vice President JD Vance over the weekend with an incendiary Truth Social tirade that invoked Allah while boasting about killing Iranian leaders—even as Vance was in the middle of high-stakes peace negotiations with Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The 79-year-old president launched his Saturday morning attack just as talks between U.S. and Iranian officials began, making no mention of the negotiations that Vance was spearheading alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump tore into the media for their “massive Trump Derangement Syndrome,” insisting Iran was “LOSING, and LOSING BIG!” He then boasted that Iran’s “Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone” and that “their longtime ‘Leaders’ are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!”
The post came at a particularly awkward moment for Vance, who has been trying to position himself as the voice of reason in negotiations to end the unauthorized war Trump launched against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has said it would prefer to negotiate only with the 41-year-old vice president, who has long expressed opposition to U.S. military interventions in the Middle East.
The dynamic has created visible tension within the Trump administration’s negotiating team. Vance has been adamant that Iran must have no uranium enrichment capacity, while Kushner and Witkoff have floated a softer deal in which the U.S. would actually supply Iran with uranium for civilian use. Iranian officials have said they view negotiations with Kushner and Witkoff as a front by the Trump administration to trick Iran into thinking they were negotiating in good faith.
Comedian Bill Maher highlighted the awkwardness on Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” pointing out the irony of Vance’s situation. “That’s who’s at the table over there in Islamabad: Pakistan, Vance, and the Iranians,” the 70-year-old host said, noting that Vance himself once called Trump “reprehensible” and potentially “America’s Hitler.”
Maher was referring to comments Vance made before becoming Trump’s 2024 running mate, when he described himself as a “never Trumper.” The vice president, who served in the Marines and built his political reputation on opposition to foreign intervention, has since become one of Trump’s strongest defenders.
After 21 hours of talks, the negotiations collapsed on Sunday without reaching an agreement. As Vance delivered the “bad news” from Pakistan, the White House was posting about Trump’s upcoming 80th birthday bash on June 14, which will feature UFC fighters competing on the White House South Lawn in front of an audience of 3,000 to 5,000 VIPs.
Trump himself spent Saturday night ringside at UFC 327 in Miami while the talks were ongoing, accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of his family. Before leaving for the event, Trump told reporters it “makes no difference” to him whether a deal between Iran and the United States is reached.
The president’s dismissive attitude shifted dramatically after the talks failed. On Sunday, Trump announced a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping lane that Iran has effectively closed since the war began. The closure has caused gas prices to spike more in March than in any other month since 1967.
The president had previously threatened to kill off the entire Iranian civilization if the Strait did not reopen, warning on Truth Social that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if no deal was reached. He later walked back the threat as the U.S. and Iran came to a ceasefire agreement.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom seized on Vance’s failed mission to mock the vice president. “JD Vance proves he’s a lightweight twice in 48 hours,” Newsom wrote on X, referencing both the collapsed Iran talks and Vance’s failed attempt to campaign for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who suffered a crushing election defeat days after the vice president’s visit.
Trump’s handling of the Iran crisis has drawn criticism for its chaotic approach. The president launched the war without congressional authorization and has repeatedly undermined his own negotiating team’s efforts.
Despite the failure of negotiations and mounting pressure over gas prices, Trump claimed he was not worried about resuming talks with Iran. “I don’t care if they come back or not,” he said. “If they don’t come back, I’m fine.”
