Vice President\u00a0JD Vance\u00a0on Thursday rejected the use of the word \u201cwar\u201d to describe the\u00a0U.S. fighting\u00a0with Iran as he steered clear of predicting that the 6-month-old conflict would be over by November\u2019s midterm elections, in which Republicans are trying to hang on to their\u00a0narrow majorities in Congress.<\/p>\n
\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it a war,\u201d Vance said after being asked during a White House press briefing about whether the fighting could end before voters cast their ballots in the Nov. 3 congressional elections. \u201cRight now, there is no active shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vance\u2019s assertion came even as Iran\u00a0fired\u00a0at U.S. Gulf ally Kuwait on Thursday as it continued to retaliate for rounds of U.S. strikes on Iran earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
The vice president said the U.S. had a \u201cresponsibility\u201d to carry out this week\u2019s strikes because Iran continued to target commercial vessels passing through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Vance\u2019s attempt to minimize the intensity of the fighting illuminates the difficult task at hand for Trump and his administration as he tries to persuade American voters to keep Republicans in control of Congress, even as\u00a0the unpopular conflict\u00a0\u2014 one the White House said at its outset would\u00a0last a matter of weeks\u00a0\u2014 has driven up gas prices and left consumers grappling with higher inflation.<\/p>\n
Vance said he didn\u2019t want to set \u201cartificial timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when you ask, \u2018When will this end?\u2019 You\u2019re asking me a question like, \u2018When will the Iranians stop shooting at ships?\u2019\u201d Vance said. \u201cI think the reality is, I don\u2019t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians.\u201d<\/p>\n
The administration in July faced scrutiny after it reclassified\u00a0four fallen soldiers\u00a0as well as dozens of wounded troops in its Defense Casualty Analysis System, which Pentagon officials have repeatedly pointed to as the definitive source on the numbers of dead and wounded from the conflict. Those killed or wounded in fighting after a brief ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran fell apart\u00a0were classified in a new category\u00a0called \u201cOverseas Operations\u201d after initially being tallied in the totals from the war.<\/p>\n
White House insists more oil is getting out of Gulf, but prices remain high<\/h4>\n
Brent crude prices hovered above $95 per barrel Thursday. The international benchmark was around $72 per barrel the day before the conflict began.<\/p>\n
Still, Trump and his aides have sought to push that the U.S. Navy is in control of the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20% of the world\u2019s traded oil passed before the war. They insist a near prewar level of Gulf oil is now making its way out of the critical waterway.<\/p>\n
Vance at Thursday\u2019s press briefing said the U.S. escorted about 15 million barrels of oil on Wednesday. This was after Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Wednesday that 17 million barrels were carried through the strait on Monday with assistance from the U.S. Navy. About 20 million barrels of Gulf oil flowed through the strait prior to the start of the war.<\/p>\n
But ship traffic through the strait remains well below prewar levels, according to independent firms that track marine traffic.<\/p>\n
There were 102 transits last week and 126 the week before, according to shipping data company Lloyd\u2019s List Intelligence, compared with 130 or more per day before the war.<\/p>\n
Over the past 28 days, 5 million barrels a day have exited the strait on average, according to\u00a0TankerTrackers.com. Other recent estimates have varied from 2 million barrels per day to 6 million barrels per day.<\/p>\n
Trump has tried to soothe volatile markets<\/h4>\n
Over the course of the war, Trump has repeatedly reported progress in negotiations or called off threats of military action at the last moment when global markets have become jittery. And markets have reacted swiftly to his public signals of peace or hints of progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe administration is still jawboning oil markets,\u201d said Rosemary Kelanic, Middle East director at Defense Priorities, of the administration\u2019s claims of dramatically increased flows of oil. \u201cAnd they appear to be doing it again to keep prices from going too high, so that they can extend the timeline before there\u2019s a worse price spike.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Iran\u2019s\u00a0refusal to back down\u00a0in the face of the U.S. military campaign, Trump has\u00a0settled on a dual-prong approach\u00a0that combines\u00a0economic pressure\u00a0with threats of an\u00a0escalation in force, if necessary.<\/p>\n
Trump has consistently emphasized that the campaign launched by the U.S. and Israel\u00a0has been devastating\u00a0for Iran\u2019s navy and air force. Iranian officials have said the\u00a0country has suffered\u00a0$270 billion in direct and indirect damage. Israeli military strikes in the first weeks of the war wiped out much of the theocratic government\u2019s leadership structure, including its Supreme Leader Ayatollah\u00a0Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n
Still, Iran has found leverage through its own strikes on the strait and Gulf allies of the United States. But the administration has sought to make the case that the waterway will become less important by the day, even as it asserts that more oil is getting through.<\/p>\n
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox Business interview this week that the Strait of Hormuz will become a \u201cworthless piece of water\u201d within two years as new land pipelines planned for the region bypass the energy chokepoint. Trump himself took to social media on Thursday to highlight a news report about Syria\u2019s effort to transform the port of Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast into a westward route to international markets for Gulf exporters.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have recently discussed a phased approach to jointly managing ship traffic through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Trump settles into holding pattern before midterms, analysts say<\/h4>\n
The administration maintains it\u2019s making progress economically choking off Iranian hard-liners, including the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. At the moment, it would be a leap for Trump to agree to any plan that puts Iran in position to claim control of the strait, analysts say.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it hard to believe the president would agree to anything that hands back any modicum of IRGC control over the strait that has been wrested away,\u201d said Richard Goldberg, who served as a senior adviser on Iran policy in Trump\u2019s first administration.<\/p>\n
Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Iran does not appear ready to \u201clet Trump out of the box\u201d despite the\u00a0massive pain being inflicted on its economy.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Miller said, Trump seems to have settled into a holding pattern ahead of the midterms \u2014 one in which he avoids both a return to the full-throttle bombardment of Iran and making any accommodations to Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe White House doesn\u2019t want a massive war, and they don\u2019t want to be seen as offering massive concessions,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThe tack they are taking avoids both of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP writers Jonathan J. Cooper and Josh Boak in Washington and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Vance #rejects #word #war #Iran #conflict #fighting #continues #ahead #midterms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vice President\u00a0JD Vance\u00a0on Thu… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1016,4344,1675,4829,456,6732,1921,452,3824,2050,2972,6733,356,6734],"class_list":["post-3876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-ahead","tag-conflict","tag-continues","tag-fighting","tag-iran","tag-jd-vance","tag-midterms","tag-military","tag-rejects","tag-strikes","tag-united-states","tag-vance","tag-war","tag-word"],"yoast_head":"\n
Vance rejects the word 'war' for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms - Finance News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vance rejects the word 'war' for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms - Finance News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vice President\u00a0JD Vance\u00a0on Thu…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Finance News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T18:33:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg?w=2048\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 \u5206\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed40724a3e5d482ce66781a042c3c31e\"},\"headline\":\"Vance rejects the word ‘war’ for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T18:33:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876\"},\"wordCount\":1202,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ahead\",\"conflict\",\"continues\",\"fighting\",\"Iran\",\"JD Vance\",\"midterms\",\"Military\",\"rejects\",\"strikes\",\"United States\",\"Vance\",\"War\",\"word\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Finance News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876\",\"name\":\"Vance rejects the word 'war' for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms - Finance News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T18:33:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed40724a3e5d482ce66781a042c3c31e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?p=3876#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9875\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vance rejects the word ‘war’ for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/\",\"name\":\"Finance News\",\"description\":\"Just another Finance News site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed40724a3e5d482ce66781a042c3c31e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaultinsider.top\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vance rejects the word 'war' for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms - Finance News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876","og_locale":"zh_CN","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vance rejects the word 'war' for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms - Finance News","og_description":"Vice President\u00a0JD Vance\u00a0on Thu…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876","og_site_name":"Finance News","article_published_time":"2026-09-04T18:33:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg?w=2048","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"\u4f5c\u8005":"admin","\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4":"6 \u5206"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/#\/schema\/person\/ed40724a3e5d482ce66781a042c3c31e"},"headline":"Vance rejects the word ‘war’ for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms","datePublished":"2026-09-04T18:33:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876"},"wordCount":1202,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg","keywords":["ahead","conflict","continues","fighting","Iran","JD Vance","midterms","Military","rejects","strikes","United States","Vance","War","word"],"articleSection":["Finance News"],"inLanguage":"zh-Hans","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876","url":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876","name":"Vance rejects the word 'war' for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms - Finance News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-04T18:33:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/#\/schema\/person\/ed40724a3e5d482ce66781a042c3c31e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"zh-Hans","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-Hans","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=3876#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9875","item":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vance rejects the word ‘war’ for Iran conflict as fighting continues ahead of midterms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/","name":"Finance News","description":"Just another Finance News site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"zh-Hans"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/#\/schema\/person\/ed40724a3e5d482ce66781a042c3c31e","name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AP26246658421773-e1788530151545.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n