Vance says Israeli campaign tried to sway US opinion against Iran diplomacy 

United States Vice President JD Vance has accused some members of Israel’s government of trying to influence US public opinion ⁠to oppose a deal to end the war with Iran.

In remarks made during an interview with US podcaster Joe Rogan that aired on Wednesday, Vance offered unusually pointed criticism of one of Washington’s closest allies.

Vance defended a deal the US reached last month to end the war with Iran, adding, “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there have been people within the Israeli government who are ‌trying to, like, actually shift us away from that policy because they want to continue the military campaign.”

Vance, whom many view as a potential future presidential candidate, has previously criticised Israel in what has become a widening public rift between the two countries.

“There’s a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to tank the very deal that I was pursuing,” Vance told Rogan, citing a report published by Time Magazine on Monday, which said a former Trump campaign manager was hired on behalf of Israel to run a digital campaign to influence US views of Israel and the Iran war.

“You have seen this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal,” said Vance.

“There are some people within their system that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely,” he added.

Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, DC, said the Israeli-linked influence campaign Vance referenced is likely “meant to influence Trump’s MAGA [Make America Great Again] base”, which is increasingly divided over US policy towards Israel.

“That explains why Vance went on the Joe Rogan podcast,” said Culhane. “[Rogan is] one of the most popular podcasters in the country and is very much a key voice in influencing the young men that make up the MAGA base.”

Influence campaigns ‘affect political judgement’

The US vice president also claimed an Israeli-linked influence campaign had targeted him personally over his diplomatic outreach to Iran.

“People are attacking me viciously for quite literally trying to accomplish the negotiation objective that the president set for the country,” he said.

Vance acknowledged that both allies and adversaries alike seek to influence US policy, and said, “It doesn’t bother me that Israel tries to do this.”

However, he said, “What does bother me is when those operations, those influence campaigns, actually affect ⁠American political judgement.”

Vance defended the US-Iran interim peace agreement reached last month, which was intended to end the war, but has faced significant opposition in Israel.

The agreement appears to have largely unravelled over escalating attacks by the US and Iran during the last week.

Asked if he ‌thought that the US would have engaged in the most recent war with Iran were it not for Israeli influence, Vance said, “Yes, yes I do.”

“I think the president, separate from any influence from Israel, ‌believes very strongly – and again, I agree with this – that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.

Vance has previously slammed Israeli critics of the Iran deal, saying in June that US President Donald Trump is Israel’s only ⁠ally, in a sharp rebuke that referenced the billions in US ⁠military aid to Israel.

‘Quite shocking’

Former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas said Vance’s latest remarks were “unprecedented” and show that the US and Israel “are not on the same page” right now.

“No sitting US vice president has ever accused Israel of openly running a campaign to undermine American policy,” Pinkas, now a columnist at The New Republic, told Al Jazeera.

“There have been disagreements in the past, there has been friction. But for a sitting vice president to come out so vociferously, clearly, and crudely against an Israeli influence campaign against the US is truly unprecedented,” Pinkas said. “It is quite shocking.”

Al Jazeera’s Culhane also said Vance’s remarks were “unheard of”.

Separately, Vance weighed in on the controversy surrounding the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying Epstein had unspecified high-level connections to both US and Israeli intelligence agencies.

Israel’s government did not immediately comment on Vance’s remarks.