US vice president chides Netanyahu for ‘oversimplifying’ Iran regime change prospects
Agencies
Published: 27 Mar 2026, 10:53 PM
US Vice President JD Vance meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the latter’s office in Jerusalem in October 2025. Photo: Collected
US Vice President JD Vance held a tense phone call with Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week, in which he chided the Zionist
leader for making overly optimistic predictions about the war in Iran, Axios
reports.
Vance took the indicted Israeli war criminal to task over
how likely the latter said regime change would be, the outlet reported.
“Before the war, Bibi really sold it to the president as
being easy, as regime change being a lot likelier than it was. And the VP was
clear-eyed about some of those statements,” a US official tells Axios, using
Netanyahu’s nickname.
Following the call, a US official told the outlet that
Israel is undermining Vance, who has taken a leading role in negotiating a
ceasefire with the Islamic Republic. Vance, a longtime public opponent of
open-ended foreign wars, is joining the talks alongside US negotiators Steve
Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
The US official accused Israel of being behind reports that
Iran wants to negotiate with Vance, seeing him as more amenable to reaching a
deal to end the war.
“It’s an Israeli op against JD,” the US official tells
Axios. The outlet says there is no evidence of such an operation.
The outlet quotes another official saying Vance would be
most likely to reach a deal with Iran.
“If the Iranians can’t strike a deal with Vance, they don’t
get a deal. He’s the best they’re gonna get,” a senior US official tells Axios.