Has Vice President J.D. Vance been sidelined by President Trump over Iran? Right now, it seems that indeed, this might be the case.

Let’s take a look at a brief timeline.

On July 8, President Trump, joined by his Secretaries of War, State and Treasury at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, publicly ripped up the Vice President’s “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) with Iran. He said it agreement was “over.”

“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump told reporters at the Summit. “They’re scum. They’re sick ⁠people. They’re led by sick people.”

The President also issued orders for a new series of air attacks on Iran beginning with a wave of 90 U.S. air attacks that day – which continue to this evening.

And exactly where was Vice President J.D Vance on July 8?

He wasn’t at the White House. He wasn’t in the Situation Room monitoring events. Instead, he traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he delivered a speech about Medicaid and food stamp fraud.

Of course, if he were still engaged in Iran, Vance could have canceled his Milwaukee speech and remain in Washington to interact on both the diplomatic and national security fronts concerning Iran and his now dead MoU.

Vance wasn’t needed there at all. In fact, the administration was well represented in Milwaukee. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was speaking at the same event on the same subject.

I believe that when the President decided that he was done with the MoU, he also decided he was through with his Vice President’s input on international affairs.

This is speculation of course. But based on public actions to date, and what I know of how inside Washington works, it appears that for now, Vance is largely out of the loop.

Remember, as a U.S. Senator, Vance had no committee assignments on armed services, intelligence or national security. He never sat on a single committee that dealt with foreign policy or military policy.

But, while Vance might have been sidelined, he really wasn’t done on all things concerning Israel.

On July 14, Politico reported, “Vance postponed earlier plans to address a Tuesday morning House GOP conference meeting, instead traveling to Texas to tape an episode of the Joe Rogan podcast.”

Now Vance was giving the big finger to the House leadership and instead decided it advanced his own interests as he traveled to Austin to appear with Joe Rogan. The podcaster has about 11 million viewers per episode.

In fact, the House Republican conference was confronting very important issues close to the President and could determine the outcome of the mid-term elections.

At that July 14 meeting, they were grappling with legislative efforts to finalize an $95 billion budget resolution, with supplemental requests related to fighting the war in Iran, and the President’s top priority, to pass the SAVE Act, an electoral reform bill to reduce electoral fraud.

In the end, the House did narrowly pass all three pieces of legislation today – but without J.D. Vance’s assistance on July 14.

And then, while on Rogan’s podcast, Vance decided to viciously attack Israel – America’s key ally in the Middle East as well as our wartime ally.

The Vice President claimed that Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 Presidential campaign manager, had committed political treason: he secretly lobbied on behalf of Israel through podcasters.

The Vice President was furious over a Time investigative article that focused on Parscale’s attempt to generate pro-Israel sympathies among conservatives through a digital campaign. Indeed, the contract was awarded to him through Havas, an Israeli-based global ad agency.

Vance lashed out at Israel, telling the podcaster, “When I open up the pages of Time magazine, and I see that there’s a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to tank the very deal that I was pursuing, and many of the people who were receiving that money were actually attacking me in completely dishonest ways. You know, my response to that is, well, go to hell.”

But Pascale, in the same Time article categorically denied that his campaign tried to undermine the President of the MoU, or Vance’s ceasefire MoU, telling the magazine, “I have never funded, organized, or participated in any effort to undermine President Trump – ever – including his Memorandum of Understanding or ceasefire proposal.”

The conservative digital expert additionally told Time, “The claim that I am coordinating an effort to prolong the war is completely false. The only people manufacturing a conflict between President Trump, Israel, and me are anonymous officials using background quotes to make me the bogeyman.”

Vance did concede to Rogan that indeed, countries other than Israel do try to influence American public opinion as well as our government. “I wouldn’t say they’re the only effective country trying to influence American politics by any means,” he said.

In fact, according to the U.S. Attorney General’s latest FARA report to Congress, in the last six months of 2024 Islamic nations spent more than $46 million for public relations and lobbying in the United States. Israel, on the other hand, spent only $1.5 million in lobbying and public relations, according to FARA. If you add Pascale’s 2025 contract, you can add $4 million more.

According to Open Secrets, an American nonprofit that has long tracked lobbying and public relations by foreign governments, Qatar alone spent over $240 million on FARA-registered lobbying and public relations in the US since 2015. “This includes efforts through firms influencing policy, media, and academia. In 2024 alone, expenditures exceeded $30 million, dwarfing many other foreign entities while advancing Doha’s interests amid regional tensions,” the investigative nonprofit reported.

Vance’s hostility towards Israel appears to be part of an emerging plan by the Vice President to run against Israel in the 2028 Presidential election. In this regard, he’s aligning himself with Tucker Carlson and other conservative voices that are openly anti-Israel.

The only good news is, perhaps, President Trump has lost trust in Vance as his international point person on Iran. If indeed he is sidelining him, that would be good news.

But there are many chapters to be written about the war against Iran. Who knows if Vance will be resurrected within White House national security circles? And will the Vice President be asked against to serve as the President’s lead negotiator with Iran?

Time will only tell. Stay tuned.

Richard Pollock