Vance says US has 'much greater capacity' to hit Iran, campaign could 'go a lot longer'

Vice President JD Vance defended the Trump administration’s military posture toward Iran on Monday, saying the U.S. has "much greater capacity" to strike Tehran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and that the campaign could continue for an extended period if necessary.

"The president of the United States knows what we're able to do," he told "Jesse Watters Primetime" on Monday. 

"He knows that we have much greater capacity to inflict damage on the Iranian nuclear program, but also on various missiles that threaten our troops…" he continued.

"I think the president has made it very clear that the United States has a lot of optionality here, and we could go for a little bit longer. We could go a lot longer."

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Vance rejected comparisons to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing that the current operation is defined by limited objectives rather than open-ended nation-building.

"If you think back to Afghanistan, 20 years of mission creep, 20 years [of] not having a clear objective and 20 years [of] the United States trying to bring liberal democracy to Afghanistan. Iraq was a little bit shorter, but we were still in that country for nearly a decade with no clear mission, no clear definition," he said.

 "What’s so different about this, Jesse, is that the president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish."

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That mission, he said, is distinct: preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring Tehran commits to never rebuild its nuclear capability.

"I think that means that we're not going to get into the problems that we've had with Iraq and Afghanistan," he concluded.

Vance's remarks come amid growing concerns that the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran could lead to broader Middle East conflict with no clear end in sight.

The weekend strikes killed dozens of key Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.