President Donald Trump said Vice President J.D. Vance had a “philosophically slightly different” view on the war in Iran, but said the two agreed with Israel over launching US airstrikes.Speaking to reporters at his golf club in Doral on Monday, Trump said Vance was “probably less enthusiastic about going,” but he defended the attacks as necessary.“I thought it was something we had to do,” Trump said. “I didn’t think we had a choice.”The President also rejected talks of tension between the two leaders.Trump said, “We get along well on this issue.”The conflict within the Republican Party has fueled the debate as a challenging election year approaches. Some Republicans have raised concerns about how military action fits with the party’s “America First” movement, which has often emphasized reducing U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.Vance has long been closely associated with that viewpoint. A former Marine who turned to politics through writing before becoming a U.S. senator and later vice president, he is widely seen as a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028 and someone who could prop up Trump’s political movement.Over the years, Vance has repeatedly supported Trump’s focus on prioritizing domestic issues over foreign interventions. As cited by the AP, in a 2023 opinion article in The Wall Street Journal that has received renewed attention after the attacks, he wrote that Trump enjoys his support because “I know he would not recklessly send Americans to fight overseas.”Just before the operation, Vance told The Washington Post that there was “no possibility” that the United States would become involved in a prolonged war similar to that in Iraq.Since the strikes began, the administration has given varying indications about how long the clashes might last. Trump has said the war could continue “as long as necessary,” but on Monday he also described the operation as a “short-term excursion” as economic uncertainty increases.Despite any objections suggested by Trump, Vance has publicly supported the President since the beginning of the operation. In an interview with Jesse Waters on Fox News, he rejected comparisons between the Iran operation and earlier US wars.“If you think about Afghanistan, there was 20 years of mission creep, 20 years of no clear objective and 20 years of the United States trying to bring liberal democracy to Afghanistan,” Vance said. “Iraq was a little smaller, but we were in that country for almost a decade without any clear mission, without any clear definition.”“What’s so different about this, Jesse,” Vance said, “is that the President has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish.”Trump’s stance toward Iran has been a central part of his foreign policy for years. During his first term, he withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal negotiated under Barack Obama despite objections from European allies.He later ordered a drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, calling it a delivery of “American justice”, while criticizing Democratic leaders who questioned the decision to carry out the strike without consulting Congress.