When Donald Trump sat down for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on the evening of Feb. 27 - hours before ordering the first strikes of Operation Epic Fury - J.D. Vance was notably absent. The Vice President was in the Situation Room in Washington, separated from the President under standard continuity-of-government protocol. But the distance was more than physical. Of Trump's inner circle, Vance had pushed hardest against the operation, two sources familiar with the deliberations told TIME.
"J.D. really doesn't like this," Trump told the group assembled under the Palm Beach stars, which included deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, envoy Steve Witkoff, and White House counsel David Warrington. "But when the decision is made, it's a decision, right?" "Hvylya" reports, citing a TIME investigation.
A White House source said that in the lead-up to the offensive, Vance laid out what he saw as both the benefits and the risks. Once Trump made his decision, however, "the Vice President stands by him 110%," the source said. A Vance aide declined to comment.
The opposition from Vance - a politician who built his national profile partly on skepticism of foreign military interventions - underscores the internal tensions that preceded the largest U.S. military operation in the Middle East in decades. Trump launched the war over the objections of his own Vice President and against the promises that helped him reclaim the White House in 2024: affordability, economic revival, and no new overseas conflicts.
A month in, the political costs Vance warned about are materializing. Gas prices have surged past $4 a gallon, stock markets have fallen to multi-year lows, and 13 American service members have been confirmed killed. Millions of Americans have taken to the streets in protest, and some of Trump's most prominent public supporters have turned against a conflict with no clear end in sight.
Previously, "Hvylya" analyzed how the Iran war exposed a critical vulnerability in America's alliance network across Asia.