President Donald Trump has been reportedly issuing “snide, annoyed comments,” regarding Vice President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard due to their lack of vigorous support for his Iranian conflict, according to a fresh report suggesting growing divisions within the administration.
Sources within the White House informed Zeteo that Trump has been expressing private displeasure toward both officials for their failure to be “as enthusiastic” regarding the military operation that commenced with airstrikes on February 28, 2026. The president’s evident displeasure with his vice president, age 41, represents a significant change in their dynamic, with certain White House personnel reportedly surprised by Trump’s attitude.
A single official sent a text message indicating that Vance “just opposes” conflict with Iran and remained “worried about the success” of Operation Epic Fury, which has not achieved the governmental overthrow Trump anticipated. The operation has alternatively driven up fuel costs and destroyed his public support numbers.
Vance, who served as a “skeptical” participant prior to the airstrikes based on senior White House officials, has refrained from advocating for the conflict through social platforms or television news with the identical intensity he has demonstrated for additional administration goals. This hesitation contrasts sharply with the anti-war position he advanced throughout the 2024 campaign, during which he penned in The Wall Street Journal that Trump “won’t recklessly send Americans to fight overseas.”
Vance remained conspicuously quiet on February 28, when the airstrikes commenced. Prior to that date, he had informed The Washington Post there was “no chance” of an extended Middle Eastern war if the U.S. proceeded—a statement that has not withstood scrutiny as the conflict continues into its second month without resolution.
When questioned regarding his counsel to the president by an Associated Press journalist on March 13, Vance evaded the question, asserting that revealing his views could potentially result in his incarceration because of classified material regulations.
The White House vigorously rejected the Zeteo report. “President Trump has full confidence in his entire exceptional national security team. This ‘story’ is totally false—Vice President Vance and DNI Gabbard are important members of the president’s team and their work continues to serve him and this country well,” said White House spokesman Davis Ingle.
Gabbard similarly provoked Trump’s displeasure following her refusal to support the administration’s assertion that Iran posed an “imminent threat” while giving testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Both officials possess extensive records of resisting American armed intervention in the Middle East.
The vice president’s situation may advantage Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 54, who has surfaced as a potential alternative successor to Trump’s MAGA movement. Rubio has assumed an increasingly central position serving as both secretary of state and acting national security adviser, receiving lavish commendation from the president as potentially “the greatest Secretary of State in the history of the United States.”
According to NBC News, Trump surveyed contributors at Mar-a-Lago on February 28 regarding Vance compared to Rubio. The attendees clapped more enthusiastically for Rubio—”It was almost unanimous for Marco,” one participant informed the news organization. The 79-year-old president has continually refused to position Vance above Rubio for the 2028 nomination, notwithstanding his prediction last August that Vance would be “most likely” the primary candidate.
Trump is currently dispatching Vance to Pakistan to oversee peace discussions with Iran, an assignment that may additionally complicate the vice president’s political prospects. The diplomatic efforts are anticipated to concentrate on restoring access to the Strait of Hormuz, which was accessible prior to the strikes commencing. Iran has indicated it favors negotiating with Vance rather than Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, whom Tehran has charged with “backstabbing.”
Trump’s military operations in Venezuela and Iran contradict what he pledged MAGA supporters going into the 2024 election. Vance currently confronts the difficulty of staying faithful to a president who requires allegiance while avoiding the alienation of his own non-interventionist supporters in advance of a prospective 2028 campaign.
