FRIENDLY FIRE

Murdoch Piles Pain on Vance With Fox Host’s Demand

The remarks are a notable escalation from a key Rupert Murdoch ally.

Vice President JD Vance is facing renewed pressure from within the conservative media world after Fox News host Brian Kilmeade escalated calls for him to be sidelined from Iran negotiations

The remarks are a notable escalation from a key Rupert Murdoch ally.

Vance has been deeply involved in negotiations with Iran since President Trump started his deeply unpopular war with the country in February without congressional approval.

Vance has twice led the U.S. team in negotiations with Iran—first during ceasefire talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, in April that ended without a breakthrough, and again this month in Switzerland after Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding. But the agreement has come under immediate strain, with repeated exchanges of fire since the agreement was announced.

Amid the fragile truce, Kilmeade argued that the U.S. needs “a different negotiating team” if talks with Iran resume.

“The one thing we need is a different negotiating team. If we go to negotiations and that’s a big if, this team can’t do it,” he said.

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He added that Vance and Steve Witkoff and others “should focus on Ukraine.”

He also dismissed the current Iranian negotiators as “a waste of time,” claiming the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is “calling the shots” and urging the U.S. to deal only with “the people that make the decisions.”

“We should demand different people. The foreign minister is a waste of time and the speaker is a waste of time. The IRGC is calling the shots. So, why are we pretending to talk to the other guys. Talk to the people that make the decisions. Knowing ahead of time that they’re not to be trusted,” Kilmeade said.

He also advocated a more aggressive strategy, suggesting the U.S. should “take the strait, hold the strait” and continue to “strangle the regime,” arguing that sustained pressure is “the only thing they understand.”

Kilmeade’s comments are often in lock-step with Murdoch’s, who owns Fox News.

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The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

It is not the first time Kilmeade has called for Vance to be replaced. After the memorandum of understanding was announced, the Fox & Friends host said the same thing.

“The negotiators are wasting their time,” he said. “No one’s happy with this document. The president doesn’t seem to be happy. So why are the people that created the document negotiating the deal?”

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Under the framework, fighting would pause for two months while Iran regains access to frozen assets, receives sanctions relief, and benefits from a $300 billion fund for the country’s “reconstruction and economic development.”

But critics say the deal gives Iran significant concessions while delivering few immediate guarantees in return.

Meanwhile, a permanent ceasefire seems far away as the U.S. military hit around 90 targets in airstrikes across Iran on Wednesday.

That came after Trump declared the already-fragile ceasefire effectively finished after Iran targeted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hours later, Iranian officials reported fresh attacks, though the U.S. had not publicly confirmed them. Iran also launched strikes against American allies across the Middle East, triggering security alerts in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and later Jordan, as both sides traded accusations of breaching the temporary truce.

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