US Vice President J.D. Vance said the war with Iran will enter a “very different phase within two months,” agreeing with President Donald Trump that the conflict could end shortly after the US congressional midterm elections.
In an interview with the New York Post conducted aboard the presidential aircraft Air Force Two, Vance said Iran would continue to lose its ability to control the Strait of Hormuz until the elections. He noted that shipping through the strait had recovered to more than 50% of normal levels.
Vance said the United States is not currently engaged in offensive operations, adding that the current situation involves Iranian forces occasionally firing on commercial vessels, with such attacks generally failing.
He said the war has gone through two phases. The first ended with strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program and conventional military capabilities, as well as efforts to weaken Tehran’s capabilities beyond its borders.
The second phase, according to Vance, is focused on preventing Iran from rebuilding those capabilities while preserving as much global stability as possible.
Shipping Through the Strait of Hormuz
Despite US Navy operations to clear large sections of the Strait of Hormuz of mines over the past four months, traffic remains below pre-war levels.
According to vessel-tracking data, 11 commercial ships passed through the strait during the previous 24 hours, compared with an average of about 130 vessels that transited the waterway between Oman and Iran before the war began.
Meanwhile, the United States has secretly escorted commercial oil tankers through the strait in recent months, with their tracking transmitters switched off to avoid Iranian attacks. The operations have been described as “dark missions.”
Around 20% of the world’s seaborne oil shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump: War Could End After Elections
Trump has said the war with Iran will end shortly after the midterm elections, arguing that Tehran is facing a “deep predicament” and is struggling to continue fighting.
In remarks to Fox News, Trump said Iran’s missile capabilities had been largely destroyed, making it difficult for Tehran to manufacture more missiles, although it retains the ability to launch some of them.
Trump also said the United States had destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities and that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.” He said Washington used B-2 bombers to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Trump added that the Iranians are seeking to remove him from power because they believe Democrats would allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Iran Condemns US “Repression”
Iran’s deputy chief of operations for the armed forces said Tehran condemns the “various forms of repression practiced by the United States,” calling on countries around the world to denounce what he described as “unilateral hegemony and the law of the jungle.”
He said the “long-term intervention of foreign powers in the Middle East has torn apart regional unity,” urging countries worldwide to “condemn this kind of unilateral hegemony and the law of the jungle.”
Source: Reuters
