Vance Hosts First Press Conference Since Leavitt's Departure, Walks Reporters Through Iran, Oil, Prices, and Midterms (Video)

Vice President JD Vance took the White House briefing-room lectern Thursday for the first regular press briefing since Karoline Leavitt left the job Aug. 27. No permanent press secretary has been named. Leavitt stepped down to spend more time with her two young children and will advise Trump from outside government and through MAGA Inc. The session ran nearly an hour. Vance said he was appearing as vice president, not as an acting spokesman. Asked by Fox’s Peter Doocy whether reporters were talking to the VP or the press secretary, he joked that he was “not Marco” Rubio and that doing the job too well might make it permanent. He said Leavitt had texted him luck and thanked her for her service. He called on reporters from a list rather than an open scrum.

On Iran, Vance rejected the premise that the United States is in an open-ended war timed to the midterms. “I wouldn’t call it a war,” he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. He said major combat lasted about six weeks, that nuclear sites were hit in Operation Midnight Hammer, and that “right now there is no active shooting,” while acknowledging flare-ups. “We are not talking to Iran unless they stop shooting at ships.” He said Tehran had signed a commitment to stop firing on commercial traffic and then resumed. He reported about 15 million barrels moved through the Strait of Hormuz the previous day despite the attacks. He declined to give a withdrawal date, saying a public timeline would be “irresponsible” if Iran started hitting tankers again. He said China, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Gulf states were privately helping isolate Iran even when they would not say so publicly, and that the economic campaign was meant to keep Tehran from rebuilding enrichment. Asked about an Iranian claim that a U.S. missile hit a wedding and killed five people, he said the government was investigating and that “unlike the IRGC, the United States never targets civilians.”

Vance tied pump prices to that shipping risk and to the administration’s energy deals. He said Biden-era releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were used to cut prices without an international crisis. He described the Venezuela arrangement as “effectively a new 65 billion barrel” reserve for the United States, “a win-win” for Venezuelans, motorists, and taxpayers, while warning it would take years to get large volumes out of the ground. He said the deal was already putting some downward pressure on prices and that the country should not be “overreliant on anybody” for energy. On inflation he said prices baked in during the last administration take time to unwind, cited Biden-era inflation near 9.5 percent, and argued the Federal Reserve should cut rates on current figures. He pointed to pharmaceutical pricing deals as the largest prescription-cost reduction in 60 years and said more of that would show up as the contracts take effect. He also cited anti-fraud work and new factory construction.

On politics he said Americans who want “safety and security and prosperity” should vote Republican in November. He said he would attend the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 in New York while Trump remains in Washington, calling it an honor and urging a return to the unity after 2001. He added a line about sharing the event with former President Joe Biden. Asked about Tucker Carlson’s criticism of the Iran campaign, Vance said they remain friends and that he would not “throw friends under the bus” over policy disagreements. He did not announce a press-secretary successor.