Vance pushes back on reports that US strikes hit wedding in Iran but says ‘sometimes things happen’
The vice president rebuffed Iran’s claims that US strikes hit a wedding party, saying that country’s state-run media has not been a “very good scribe” about covering the conflict.
“I’m extremely skeptical of this. What I can say with 100% confidence is that unlike [Iran], the United States never targets civilians in combat. We never will do that. We never have done that, and unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen,” Vance said in a response to a question about Iran’s claim. “But in this particular case, I don’t think that we have any information one way or the other. We’re investigating because obviously we care.”
“We want to know, and if we do make mistakes – again, this is a big difference between us and Iran – when our military makes mistakes, they learn from them to try to get better from them. “So we’re investigating it very quickly.”
Vance also described Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – whose leadership of the military has come under immense scrutiny – as a “very good friend of mine.”
And, Vance said, “I think he’s an amazing secretary of war. And, you know, fundamentally where I look, there are a lot of issues where I agree with Pete on the issue. Where I’m in the most strident agreement with Pete is that we needed to have a culture shift at the Department of War.”
“What Pete came in wanting to do was revive the warrior spirit in the United States of America,” Vance said.
Updated at 14.11 EDT
Key events
JD Vance’s comment about the US-Iran conflict that he “wouldn’t call it a war right now” has sparked criticism.
Rep Ro Khanna, referring to this comment, said it was made “as if Americans can’t see what’s going on on their own phones, with their own eyes.”
“It’s unbelievable gaslighting,” the California Democrat also said in a video posted to X.
“This is war. You know who understands it’s a war? Donald Trump. He claims that we’re winning the war.”
Former US pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer on Thursday sued the department of justice and attorney general Todd Blanche, alleging that they “unlawfully” fired her last year after she said she rejected a recommendation to restore actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights.
The Guardian’s Anna Betts reports that Oyer’s Washington DC federal court complaint maintains that in early 2025 she was asked to “disregard her duties and facilitate a political favor” for the embattled actor because of his “relationship with President Trump”.
Oyer alleges that she was “asked to make it seem like an independent review had concluded that Mr Gibson, who was convicted of a domestic violence offense, should have his gun rights restored”. After Oyer declined, “she was fired by then deputy attorney general Todd Blanche”, her suit alleges.
Read more of Betts’ reporting on Oyer’s lawsuit here.
Moments before Vance’s presser ended, the vice president was asked an unexpected question: Did he and Trump know about Milo Yiannopoulos’s deportation?
“So on Milo, I won’t speak for the president, but I found out, I think, like so many others found out.”
“I found out about it publicly,” he also said of the rightwing provocateur’s deportation. “I’m not sure if the president knew about it beforehand, but I’m sure we can follow up with the president and get you an answer to that question.”
Yiannopoulos recently broke his silence about being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Louisiana and deported to the United Kingdom, stating “for the first time I know what it feels like to be really, really terrified”.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Yiannopoulos said it was a “humiliating and disorientating” experience, as well as “physically degrading” and “frightening”.
Yiannopoulos also said he was “ashamed” of his prior support for Trump and the mass deportation agenda.
Updated at 14.48 EDT
“I wouldn’t call it a war right now,” Vance said of the ongoing US-Iran conflict. “There is no active shooting.”
“I recognize there is there have been places where this is flared up [but] major combat operations again, major combat operations lasted for about six weeks and since then, we destroyed, of course, their nuclear facilities…”
JD Vance downplayed the disconnect between widespread opposition to data centers and Trump’s artificial intelligence fervor.
Asked if a Democrat-held Congress would disadvantage US AI development, Vance agreed.
He said there’s a “very good chance” that the US could be bested by China in the AI race if Democrats held Congress.
“On the data center question, you asked how do how do you split the difference, or how do you bridge the gap?” Vance said. “The simple answer is the way that you bridge the gap is by following the president of the United States.”
Vance said a lot of data center opposition – which is increasingly a bipartisan sentiment – stemmed from people worrying their neighborhood would get worse, that their power bills would go up. Vance said that Trump has pushed for ratepayer protection and insisted that data centers must return power back into the grid.
“The way to bridge that gap is for people to do what the president United States has enabled. He’s made it easier to build a nuclear power plant, or any other power plant, next to a data center. He’s made it easier for people to put power back into the grid as opposed to take it out.”
Updated at 14.24 EDT
Vance pushes back on reports that US strikes hit wedding in Iran but says ‘sometimes things happen’
The vice president rebuffed Iran’s claims that US strikes hit a wedding party, saying that country’s state-run media has not been a “very good scribe” about covering the conflict.
“I’m extremely skeptical of this. What I can say with 100% confidence is that unlike [Iran], the United States never targets civilians in combat. We never will do that. We never have done that, and unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen,” Vance said in a response to a question about Iran’s claim. “But in this particular case, I don’t think that we have any information one way or the other. We’re investigating because obviously we care.”
“We want to know, and if we do make mistakes – again, this is a big difference between us and Iran – when our military makes mistakes, they learn from them to try to get better from them. “So we’re investigating it very quickly.”
Vance also described Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – whose leadership of the military has come under immense scrutiny – as a “very good friend of mine.”
And, Vance said, “I think he’s an amazing secretary of war. And, you know, fundamentally where I look, there are a lot of issues where I agree with Pete on the issue. Where I’m in the most strident agreement with Pete is that we needed to have a culture shift at the Department of War.”
“What Pete came in wanting to do was revive the warrior spirit in the United States of America,” Vance said.
Updated at 14.11 EDT
Vance was asked: Why shouldn’t the American people blame Republicans for inflation?
The vice president started to answer by saying things were worse under Joe Biden – and that higher prices during that administration set the stage for “damage” that Donald Trump is trying to reverse.
“When prices get baked in like that, it takes a little bit of time for us to undo some of the damage,” Vance said.
“My point is that because America’s inflation problem wasn’t created in a day, it was created by very bad policies in the Biden administration, trillions of dollars of new spending that was going more to fraudsters than it was to the American people,” he also claimed. “It takes a little bit of time to rebuild the foundation of America’s middle class economy.”
Updated at 14.05 EDT
JD Vance claimed during his presser that agreements to develop oil in Venezuela would be used to bolster the US’s strategic petroleum reserve and lower gas prices.
“Now we’re using, of course, the successful Venezuela operation and some of the friendships and some of the relationships that developed in the wake of that operation, to create what is effectively a new 65 billion barrel of oil reserve for the United States of America,” Vance said. “The way that that’s going to work is that private companies, American companies, can go in there, generate a lot of oil revenue.”
“That’s going to mean world oil markets get only more suppl[y], that will lower costs for Americans,” Vance claimed, also saying, “It’s good for Venezuelans, it’s good for anybody who’s buying gas, and it’s good for the American taxpayer as well.”
Vance’s announcement about the oil reserve comes before a round of midterm elections where Democrats have hammered Republicans on increased cost-of-living – including gas prices.
Updated at 14.05 EDT
Vance holds press briefing at the White House
Vice President JD Vance has just started his press conference at the White House.
Updated at 14.05 EDT
Pentagon steps back from recently posted clinical guidelines on testosterone testing policy
The Pentagon has stepped back from its recently posted clinical guidelines for its new, mandatory testosterone deficiency testing policy for US armed service members age 30 and above, Reuters reported Thursday.
The Pentagon published a “Clinical Guidance for Health and Human Performance Optimization” Wednesday on its website. But by Thursday, Reuters said, this memorandum and a press statement were taken down.
“The draft (document) published on September 2, 2026, has been temporarily rescinded to allow for updates,” an official told Reuters, saying temporary guidance was still in effect.
The testosterone deficiency testing guidelines set forth different assessment paths for men and women that are supposed to take place during yearly health checks.
This guidance was poised to start right away. The Pentagon has claimed this testing was intended on strengthening military readiness by mitigating potential hormone problems and associated symptoms such as low energy.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth announced the new testosterone deficiency screening program in July. In a video to X, Hegseth said he wanted to make sure service members had “the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.”
“As we know, the modern battlefield is brutal and unrelenting,” Hegseth also said. “It requires and demands maximum psychological and mental readiness, and by addressing these health markers early, we’re keeping you on the leading edge of lethality, and giving you the same level of support that you give this nation – the absolute best.”
Those with low testosterone–a condition which has become a frequent topic of conversation in conservative circles–can get treatment for “restoring and optimizing”, Hegseth said. This treatment would be voluntary.
Updated at 13.34 EDT