The whispers from the West Wing are deafening on Friday night. I can confirm that an internal White House memo, dated 8 October, lays bare a stunning recalibration of the Iran nuclear talks. The headline: Vice President J.D. Vance is now the public face of the administration's diplomatic push. This is not a cosmetic shift. It is a raw power play.
Multiple sources inside the State Department and the VP's own office have told me this is a direct move by Trump to insulate his second-term foreign policy from the 'Never Trump' rump inside Foggy Bottom. The old guard never bought the 'maximum pressure' pivot. Vance brings ideological purity. He brings Midwest grit. He brings the full force of the MAGA base.
The memo, which I have seen, instructs all diplomatic correspondence on the Iran file to be copied to the Vice President's National Security Advisor. Routine briefings now include a slot for the 'Vance view'. More tellingly, the VP's office has established its own backchannel to the Tehran mission through the Swiss protecting power. State's careerists are apoplectic. They say this fractures the chain of command. I say it fractures their monopoly on power.
Let's look at the numbers. A new YouGov poll, conducted late yesterday, shows Vance's domestic approval rating on foreign affairs has jumped 12 points in the last month among Republican voters. That is not a coincidence. The deal repackaged as 'America First Diplomacy' sells. The old JCPOA smelled of Obama. This smells of Trump, with a Vance patent.
But there is a deeper game. Several well-placed Hill sources have privately confessed that the Vance ascent is designed to neutralise the looming Senate revolt. A trio of GOP hawks, let's call them the 'Three Amigos', have been sabre-rattling on this deal for weeks. They cannot attack Vance. Not yet. He is the heir apparent. He is the future. To hit him is to hit Trump. So they sit on their hands.
Inside the Cabinet room, the mood is tense. Secretary Marco Rubio said nothing during the Wednesday Principals meeting when Vance outlined the new negotiating timeline. That silence was louder than any protest. Sources close to Rubio say he is deeply unhappy. He sees the Iran portfolio as his. Vance sees it as his proving ground.
The details of the deal itself remain fluid. I understand the core trade is sanctions relief for a capped enrichment programme, but with a 'snapback' mechanism that is nearly automatic. No more 60-day review. No more UN Security Council loopholes. The Vance touch is in the enforcement. It is brutal. It is simple. It is designed to be broken only on Trump's terms.
What happens next? I am told Vance will lead the next round of indirect talks in Muscat. He will have a direct phone line to Trump. State will have a secure video link to a briefing room. The message is clear: the President trusts his VP more than his own State Department. That is a hell of a message to send to the world.
The opposition is scrambling. Democrats are calling this a 'rogue operation'. Some are even whispering about a constitutional clash. That is Westminster drama. The real action is in the polling and the backroom deals. And inside this White House, the biggest deal is the one between the top two men. That deal is solid. That deal is the story.
One final note for the Lobby. Watch the statement from the Attorney General's office on Monday. I hear there is a legal review of the VP's authority in treaty negotiations. This is a paintball fight to distract from the real battle. The battle for the soul of the GOP's foreign policy. Vance just drew his line. Trump drew his. The rest of them will have to choose a side.
