Trump administration officials believe that Israel is trying to pull Vice President JD Vance deeper into the war with Iran.
President Donald Trump formally tasked Vance during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday with help leading potential Middle East negotiations alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The move came as the war entered its fourth week, with U.S. and Israeli sources telling Axios that Vance expected fighting to continue for several more weeks.
Reports from CNN and The Guardian suggested that Iranian officials had declared through back channels that they would only engage in negotiations with Vance. CNN cited “two regional sources” as saying the message had been relayed to the Trump administration.
Those reports portrayed Vance—a known anti-interventionist and a Marine Corps veteran who served in public affairs during the Iraq War—as more inclined to seek a swift end to the conflict.
“The perception is that Vance would be intent on wrapping up the conflict,” one source told CNN. A separate source cited by The Guardian said, “If the negotiations are going to have any outcome, JD Vance should join,” adding that talks involving Witkoff and Kushner would likely not succeed.
However, administration officials suspect the reports could be part of a coordinated effort by Israel to undermine the vice president, possible because they see him as less hawkish, Axios reported.
“It’s an Israeli op against JD,” one told the outlet, referring to the claims that Iran viewed Vance as eager to cut a quick deal.
Vance adviser Andrew Surabian said on X that the CNN report was evidence of “a coordinated foreign propaganda op.”
“Note how this piece of utter fiction isn’t even sourced to the Iranians, but rather ‘two regional sources.’ Pretty obvious that CNN fell for a coordinated foreign propaganda op meant to undermine President Trump, VP Vance and the entire Admin, as they engage in negotiations,” he wrote.
There is no evidence of any Israeli operation targeting Vance, according to Axios.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Vance for comment.
Since Trump launched coordinated strikes with Israel on Iran on Feb. 28, 13 service members have died, and nearly 300 have been injured.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the Pentagon is considering deploying an additional 10,000 ground troops to the Middle East, adding to the 5,000 Marines and thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division ordered to the region.
Meanwhile, Trump on Thursday backtracked on his earlier threats to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure and extended his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to April 6. The strait is a critical global shipping route through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies normally flow, and oil prices have soared more than 40 percent since the war began.
