🔻Vance’s remarks will be followed by a broader debate about foreign policy 🖊Daniel Bush, BBC journalist in Washington

It is hard to recall recent and similar examples in which a sitting vice president has spoken so openly and candidly about his party’s defeat in a midterm election—especially in a way that appears to be intended to distance himself from the president.

JD Vance said that any “honest conversation” about the future of the party should begin with accepting the reality that the Iran war caused the Republicans to lose control of Congress.

Mr. Trump acknowledged that the Iran war and the rise in gasoline prices played a role in this defeat, but said he is not sorry about the start of this conflict.

But Mr. Vance went one step further. The vice president said Republicans can talk about whether the war was worth the political costs. He refrained from stating his explicit opposition to the war; a war that he has long supported in his public positions.

However, news reports indicate that he has expressed his opposition to the war in private sessions.

His remarks will set in motion a broader debate among the American right about the foreign policy of the Republican Party in the post-Trump era.