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\n

Vice President JD Vance fielded questions on Iran \u2014 lots of them \u2014 during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans Thursday.<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s visit to Capitol Hill came as the Senate is trying to wrap up a massive to-do list<\/a> ahead of a planned five-week recess \u2014 including unfinished work on a spending stopgap, Russia sanctions and cryptocurrency regulations, as well as possible votes on a party-line spending bill and the GOP elections legislation President Donald Trump desperately wants enacted.<\/p>\n

But senators emerging from the lunch said the dominant topic was instead the administration\u2019s ongoing negotiations with Iran<\/a> over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending months of hostilities that have put upward pressure on prices.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans urged Vance to provide more transparency as polling shows that the conflict is unpopular with many Americans with the midterms just three months out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vice president responded to questions, and a lot of the questions were about Iran,\u201d Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).<\/p>\n

Kennedy said he suggested that Vance and other top administration officials go on TV or hold a news conference to explain what was happening and why.<\/p>\n

Vance, according to multiple GOP senators, detailed how much damage the U.S. has done to Iran\u2019s military since strikes began in February. Republicans said they also discussed the state of the Pentagon\u2019s munitions stockpile during the lunch amid reports that some weapons are running low \u2014 something Trump denies \u2014 and as the administration pushes for a $1.5 trillion defense infusion.<\/p>\n

“That was one of the things I wanted to talk about because I’m on Defense [appropriations],\u201d said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) when asked if there was a concern Congress wasn\u2019t approving money fast enough. \u201cWe went through the impacts and timing and how they’re managing that. But they’re doing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump announced earlier this month that a deal with Iran to reopen the strait, a vital global oil corridor, was imminent. Vance, according to the senators, said that the administration is \u201choping\u201d to get an agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they have to trust and verify, not just trust \u2014 so verify whatever it is that they offer, and then maintain it,\u201d said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). \u201cAnd if they back out, then we’re still right back in their face again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vice President JD Vance fielded questions on Iran \u2014 lots of them \u2014 during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans Thursday. Vance\u2019s visit to Capitol Hill came as the Senate is trying to wrap up a massive to-do list ahead of a planned five-week recess \u2014 including unfinished work on a spending stopgap, Russia sanctions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}