Vance Chairs Unannounced Camp David Meeting on Iran and Yemen

Vice President JD Vance chaired an unannounced Camp David meeting Friday on the war with Iran and the Saudi-Houthi fight in Yemen, three U.S. officials told Axios. Accounts differ on whether President Donald Trump was in the room.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine attended, the officials said. One of them told Axios that “things were decided, or at least deeply discussed.” The White House declined to comment. The administration did not put the meeting on the public schedule.

The last comparable gathering, Axios noted, was in June 2025, days before Israel opened its war with Iran. This one comes with U.S.-Iran talks stalled. On Thursday Trump said he had a decision in front of him: “either Iran signs the deal, or it won’t exist any longer.” On Friday afternoon, while the aides were at Camp David, he brushed off a question about his next move. “If I told you, you would have a major story,” he said.

The same officials described pressure from Saudi Arabia for American strikes on the Houthis. Riyadh is weighing an offensive aimed at Houthi-held coastal ground and Red Sea shipping lanes, Reuters reported Friday. Trump has been leaning against joining that campaign, officials told Axios, but they said he could change his mind.

Separately, reporting cited by the Jerusalem Post described a possible U.S. buildup of about 20,000 additional troops on top of roughly 50,000 already in the region, along with as many as 150 fighter jets and more destroyers for missile defense. Those figures were attributed to planning reports, not to a Pentagon announcement.

At Friday’s Mobile rally, Trump said Iran had been “decimated” and had “virtually given up” plans for a nuclear weapon. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said. He also said the war would end “one way or the other,” “probably right after the midterms,” and that oil prices would “come tumbling down” once it did. He cited Iranian inflation of about 310 percent. On Saturday, leaving Washington for an Ohio campaign stop, he told reporters before boarding Marine One that Iran had been “decimated” and that the outcome would be “the easy way or the hard way.” That timeline tracks what the Wall Street Journal reported in late September: that Trump was skeptical of Tehran’s seven-day Hormuz proposal and expected a renewed bombing campaign after the November elections. Friday’s meeting is the new fact. The White House has not said what, if anything, was decided.