Vance says US has in some ways decisively won Iran war

Vice President JD Vance said at a CBS News town hall on Saturday that the United States has in some ways decisively won its war against Iran, while adding that the enemy gets a vote and Iran has responded.

Why it matters: The claim sets the administration's public measure of the war a few weeks before the midterms, with the Strait of Hormuz still closed, gasoline averaging about 4.30 dollars a gallon and the war about to reach its eight month mark.

Data as of Sunday, October 18, 2026, 08:55 ET. Developing item, single sourced: Vance's remarks are as reported by The Hill on October 18, 2026, read in full, from a CBS News town hall held on Saturday. The gasoline price and polling figures are the ones The Hill cited from AAA and the Decision Desk HQ average.

Vice President JD Vance told a CBS News town hall on Saturday that, in some ways, the United States has decisively won its war against Iran. He qualified the claim in the same exchange, saying the enemy gets a vote and that Iran has responded in certain ways, and he framed the war’s purpose as preventing Iran, which he called the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The Hill, which reported the remarks, set them against the war’s domestic costs a few weeks before the midterm elections: the Strait of Hormuz remains closed amid the fighting, AAA put the average gasoline price at about 4.30 dollars a gallon on Sunday morning against about 3.04 dollars a year earlier, and the Decision Desk HQ polling average put President Trump’s approval at 39.8 percent, with disapproval at 58.7 percent.

Vance says US has in some ways decisively won Iran war

Sources