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Vance rules out Iran talks

September 4, 2026

Vice President JD Vance said the US will not negotiate with Iran while attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz continue, and set no timeline for ending the war.

AP News reports that Vance's assertion came as Iran fired at Kuwait on Thursday, continuing its retaliation for US strikes earlier in the week. The record carries the vice president declining to give a timeline for the war's end or a date when gas prices might fall below pre-war levels, and putting the conclusion of the conflict, which began with joint US and Israeli airstrikes six months ago, on Iran. CBS News reports the same position on talks: no negotiation while attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz continue. Al Jazeera's own headline ties the ruling out of talks to those ship attacks, matching what the other outlets carry.

The casualty and market figures line up across the record. Updated Pentagon figures on Thursday show 790 US service members wounded and 18 killed since the conflict began in late February. CBS News reports Iran's Ministry of Health put the previous night's US strikes at at least 18 killed and 108 wounded, and reports Iran's foreign ministry accusing the US of killing or wounding more than 50 people in a strike on a wedding party in the south on Tuesday evening. CBS News also reports that Brent had hovered around the 65 dollar a barrel mark for months before the war began on February 28, and that oil prices rose again Thursday. AP News reports that ship traffic through the strait remains well below prewar levels, according to independent firms tracking marine traffic, even as the administration argues more oil is getting through.

One point splits the record. Accounts differ on what the vice president said about the alleged strike on the wedding party: one account has him doubting the Iranian allegations outright, another has him saying no information runs one way or the other. Settled across the record are the refusal to negotiate while shipping is attacked, the absence of a timeline, the Pentagon casualty totals, and the depressed traffic through the strait. Unsettled is the characterization of the wedding party strike and where the US military inquiry into it leads.

Still developing

Accounts of what was stated about the alleged strike on a wedding party do not line up. The record leaves the point open as of the draft.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 95% · Contested 1% · Developing 4%

Sources