Vance says Iran ‘screwed up’ by resuming attacks on ships

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Iranian leaders “screwed up” by resuming attacks on commercial shipping, blaming Tehran for the collapse of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with journalist Vince Coglianese that aired on Tuesday that he believes the Iranians have realized they “screwed up.” Vance added that many officials in Iran consider it foolish to have started firing on ships again, but that Tehran went ahead anyway.

Official portrait of JD Vance (March 2026)

Vance blamed Iranian leaders for the breakdown of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, saying the Iranians “signed a deal with us, we had a ceasefire, we had energy prices that had come down” and could have gained a lot from a better relationship with the United States had they behaved — before they began attacking commercial shipping.

The Islamabad Memorandum, signed remotely on June 17 by President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, was intended to end the 2026 Iran war. Attacks on commercial vessels in the region have since resumed, and the U.S. military has struck Iranian tankers in response to missile attacks on U.S. forces.

Vance speaks at an event (file, September 2025)

Vance also described Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, as “very detached,” saying he is not involved in day-to-day affairs. “We think that he is alive,” Vance said, adding that he had not seen him on camera recently.