VP JD Vance says Iran war will end after U.S. midterm election as Strait of Hormuz traffic recovers

US Vice President JD Vance declared that Washington has completed the objectives of what he called the "first phase" of operations against Iran and warned that "a much different phase" will begin in a matter of months.

In remarks reported by Middle East Eye, Vance said the initial campaign destroyed Iran's nuclear program, its conventional military capacity and its ability to project power, and that the coming second phase will aim to prevent Tehran from rebuilding those capabilities.

Those are claims by a senior US official; the outlet presented Vance’s summary without independent corroboration in the same report. Vance framed the campaign as a sequence: an initial strike package that achieved specific degradation of Iranian capabilities, followed by a distinct, longer-term effort to hold those gains in place.

He portrayed the second phase as more complex and sustained, saying it will begin "in a couple of months." The report does not provide evidence from independent analysts, Iranian statements, or military assessments to confirm the scope of damage Vance described.

Vance’s language signals a shift from kinetic operations he characterized as completed toward measures aimed at preventing reconstruction of Iran’s nuclear program and conventional forces; Middle East Eye relayed that framing but did not quote other US officials or international monitors to substantiate the claims.

How Tehran will respond to a declared second phase — diplomatically, covertly, or militarily — is not detailed in the source article, which confines itself to Vance’s public claim and timeline.

The immediate consequence, as reported, is an explicit US warning that the campaign is not over and that Washington plans a different, follow-on set of actions meant to lock in what it says were gains from phase one.