FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 12, 2026
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, President Donald Trump said that “we don’t need a deal with Iran,” putting a halt to diplomatic efforts led by Vice President JD Vance. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:
“President Trump is right that we don’t need a deal with Iran, but that should be an opening to end the war, not continue with the current failing approach to it. Vance’s defenestration from Trump’s foreign policy team seems to reflect the president’s deeper embrace of a war that voters just rejected.
“Americans’ political judgement about the war reflects strategic reality: the war is failing, and time isn’t on our side. Iran is suffering more than the United States, but they have far greater will to suffer because they are under attack. While more oil is flowing through the strait, the threat of Iran’s attacks keeps its volume down and prices up, which juices inflation. Iran’s economic plight, meanwhile, seems unlikely to produce political change. By attacking Iran and killing many of its leaders, the United States and Israel made its government more hardline while increasing popular support for its inflexible stances. Iran’s leaders would be hard-pressed to accept even quite favorable deals. And attacking Iran makes it more likely hardliners overcome the lingering resistance to building nuclear weapons.
“An agreement to end the war and address additional sources of tension between the United States and Iran would be useful, but it isn’t necessary. All the United States really needs from Iran is to let shipping flow through the strait. That would bring down oil prices. The United States should stop blockading Iran and pull its naval forces back. Iran will likely then let shipping flow, albeit with a toll, ending the problem that this misbegotten war created.”
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