Vice President JD Vance is privately expressing serious concerns about how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon are managing President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, according to multiple senior administration officials. Sources told The Atlantic that the 41-year-old vice president has grown skeptical of the information coming from the Pentagon regarding the progress and impact of the military campaign. He has also raised alarms directly with President Trump about rapidly depleting stockpiles of key missile systems and munitions.
A White House official said Vance “asks a lot of probing questions about our strategic planning,” suggesting he is deeply engaged in scrutinizing the war effort.
Advisers to Vance emphasized that his concerns are not an accusation that Hegseth or Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine are deliberately misleading the president. They insist Vance is not trying to sow division within Trump’s national security team, but rather ensuring the administration has a realistic picture of the situation.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell pushed back strongly, saying Hegseth and Vance share an “outstanding working relationship grounded in deep mutual respect.” He described the internal questioning as “responsible, high-caliber teamwork” and insisted the Pentagon provides Trump with the “complete, unvarnished picture.”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that Trump “loves Secretary Hegseth and thinks he is doing a phenomenal job leading the Department of War,” calling him a “vital and trusted member” of the president’s core team.
The tension stems from a gap between public statements and private intelligence assessments. Hegseth has repeatedly claimed the U.S. military operation has delivered an “overwhelming success” and has “completely obliterated” Iran’s naval forces — statements that Trump has often echoed.
However, a CBS News report last week, citing U.S. officials briefed on intelligence, painted a more sobering picture:
Both Vance and Hegseth served in the Iraq War, but they approach military matters very differently. Hegseth has a more hawkish stance, criticizing “stupid” rules of engagement and supporting aggressive actions such as extrajudicial strikes on suspected narco boats. Vance, by contrast, has long held a more isolationist and skeptical view of prolonged U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts.
Sources say Hegseth’s background in television has made him effective at communicating with Trump in a style the president prefers, which may explain why his optimistic assessments often dominate public messaging. Vance’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The reported friction comes as negotiations to end the Iran war appear stalled. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, while Trump recently canceled planned talks involving his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner
.As the conflict drags into its ninth week, the internal concerns from the vice president highlight growing questions within the administration about the true cost — both in munitions and strategic positioning — of Trump’s war in Iran.
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