Vice President JD Vance is defending the administration's hardline Iran policy months after the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, framing the campaign as a promise kept even as Tehran lashes out at global shipping in response. "Trump said, 'Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,' and took action to ensure that Iran won't have a nuclear weapon," Vance said, pointing to the outcome of the February 2026 strikes that killed Khamenei and dozens of senior Iranian officials in a joint US-Israeli operation. "Iran responded by terrorizing international shipping," he added, referencing the wave of attacks Iranian forces have launched against commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the months since.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas normally flows, has become a recurring flashpoint, with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps repeatedly striking tankers it accuses of bypassing routes it claims the right to control. Attacks have continued sporadically even during periods of mourning for Khamenei, including a string of tanker strikes in July that hit vessels flagged to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, drawing formal protests from Gulf governments and renewed US military action aimed at keeping the waterway open. Vance has repeatedly cast the nuclear strikes as a decisive success while acknowledging the resulting instability, arguing the alternative, allowing Iran's nuclear program to advance, posed a far greater long-term risk. With negotiations over a permanent end to the conflict still unresolved, the disruption to Gulf shipping remains one of the clearest signs that the war triggered by February's strikes is far from over.