Trump: ‘A lot of people didn’t like’ Vance comments blaming midterm losses on Iran war

President Trump said “a lot of people didn’t like” Vice President Vance blaming the GOP’s election losses on the Iran war , which has proven to be unpopular across the country.

When asked if Vance’s statement following the results of last week’s midterms had impacted their relationship, Trump told reporters, “No, not at all.”

“But a lot of people didn’t like his comments. But not me,” he added.

“He was right, other than one thing. He should have made one other statement. One statement that I think is very important. If you had it to do again? Would you do it again? The answer is yes,” the president continued. “I can tell you, if I had it to do again, this historically, for history, will go down as one of the best things we ever did.”

Vance released a lengthy social media post that detailed why he believed the GOP lost in key battleground elections this cycle.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” he wrote. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”

The vice president was referring to Trump partially blaming the Middle East conflict for Republicans falling short last week. Vance received pushback from both sides of the aisle for the comment.

The president told The Wall Street Journal late Tuesday that the war with Iran, now in its eighth month, “was a piece of it” in an election night interview.

Asked during an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” about Vance’s post and whether he knew it was coming, Trump said: “He asked me, ‘What do I think?’ I said, ‘Write what you feel.’”

He also defended the war effort in the recent interview, saying he believed “historically this will be a very good decision” because “you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

“Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not, but you know, I have to go with what’s right for our country,” he added. “If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated far worse than what happened. I’ve stopped them from having a nuclear weapon. That’s a big thing.”

Trump left the door open to renewing military action against Iran but said it was unlikely if peace talks progressed.