US President Donald Trump said Thursday he was pulling Vice President JD Vance away from potential peace talks with Iran to focus on alleged fraud and corruption in Democratic-run US cities and states, The New York Times reported.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump wrote on social media. “Those days have long since passed.”
The announcement raises fresh questions about Trump’s plans for ending the war with Iran. The president has weighed options including intensified military strikes, withdrawal or maintaining the current course, according to the Times.
Trump had tasked Vance, who privately opposed going to war with Iran, with leading negotiations earlier this year. The vice president traveled to Pakistan in April for talks with Iranian leaders that ended without a resolution.
Vance more recently proposed renewed negotiations in a letter sent through Qatari mediators to General Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the Times reported.
But Trump said Thursday that Vance should instead focus his “complete and total attention” on what he called “massive corruption and crime” in Democratic-run jurisdictions.
The decision also follows Vance’s public criticism of the administration’s handling of the war, which he blamed for Republican midterm election losses.
A high-profile fraud investigation in Minnesota has led to scores of arrests. Federal data, however, does not support Trump’s suggestion that fraud is more prevalent in Democratic-run jurisdictions, the Times reported.
Trump has also granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors and others convicted in fraud cases, the newspaper said.
