Trump says no need for Iran deal, Vance should focus on US

Kate Sullivan, Bloomberg News on Nov 12, 2026

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President Donald Trump said the U.S. did not need a deal with Iran and instructed Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic issues rather than negotiations with Tehran.

The directive, posted on social media on Thursday threw cold water on ongoing back channel talks and dampened prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough to end the war. It also appeared undercut one of Trump’s main war objectives: to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!,” Trump posted on social media, referring to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping corridor.

Oil prices reversed losses after Trump’s comments, with Brent crude up 1.3% to around $94 a barrel.

The declaration comes just over a week after Republicans suffered a wipeout in the midterm elections. Vance publicly blamed the defeat on the war and the U.S.’s relationship with Israel, which launched the war alongside Trump in late February.

Instead, Trump said, Vance should focus on what he called “Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S.”

After meeting Monday with the prime minister of Qatar, a main mediator in talks between Washington and Tehran, Trump said that he did not think further strikes were needed for now but warned the U.S. was ready to restart armed hostilities if the “status quo” was disrupted.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday Trump told aides that he was open to Vance resuming direct discussions with Iran on ending the war, now in its ninth month, and that Vance was weighing talks with Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.