“Go to hell!” Vance lashed out at certain people in the Israeli government for deliberately manipulating public opinion in an attempt to sway Americans’ views; “I will stick to doing the right thing for the American people. My top priority represents the interests of the American people.”

According to a July 15 report by The Jerusalem Times, U.S. Vice President Vance accused certain factions within the Israeli government of funding a campaign. The participants in that campaign attacked his negotiations with Iran, trying to sabotage Trump’s Iran-related deal.

As the United States launched its second wave of strikes against Iran, Vance on the 15th defended his role in U.S.-Iran diplomatic efforts, arguing that fighting alone could not win the war with Iran.

In an interview that day on a podcast, Vance said: “You can bomb them, you can destroy their radar, and you can take out some of their drones and missiles, and it’s just too easy to open fire on ships in the (Strait of) Hormuz. But you have to be truly willing to have a dialogue, and you have to find a way to solve this problem.”

He said: “I’m very disappointed, frankly, not just with Americans, but with people in some other countries too—they keep saying, ‘You can’t negotiate with Iranians.’”

Vance said: “Everyone has seen this covert, well-funded public-opinion operation. Its purpose is to sabotage the negotiation process and prevent a ceasefire agreement from being reached.”

Vance said: “Yesterday, Time magazine published a story… The article named a group of paid operatives. Their backers were former Trump campaign team staffers, and those operatives, in turn, received funding from certain forces within the Israeli government. These people launched malicious attacks against me only because I’m committed to carrying out the negotiation goals set by the president.”

“They keep attacking me—by posting on social media, leaking to the media, and so on—arguing that the United States should never negotiate with Iran and should continue military confrontation indefinitely,” Vance continued. “And there are people who maliciously smear me, claiming I’m influenced by Qatar, influenced by foreign governments, claiming that I take orders from Tucker Carlson—there are just too many lies like that.”

Vance said: “Even if certain forces within the Israeli government want to criticize the deal or disagree with it, I personally don’t rule out normal lobbying influence. Foreign governments have always tried to influence the United States, Israel as well, and so have other countries… But I cannot accept that American domestic political figures have their judgment and positions swayed and changed by this kind of external interference.”

Vance emphasized: “When I saw Time magazine’s report, confirming that there indeed were overseas forces paying for this public-opinion operation to deliberately undermine the agreement I’m driving forward—and that many of those getting paid are attacking me in completely dishonest ways—my response is: Go to hell. I will stick to doing the right thing for the American people. My top priority represents the interests of the American people.”

Vance further said: “We can fully confirm that there are some people within the Israeli government who are deliberately manipulating public opinion, trying to sway American public sentiment so that the war can continue indefinitely.”

Iran believes Vance is one of the most anti-war figures within Trump’s inner circle. During the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, Vance repeatedly criticized publicly that the war in the Middle East has been completely meaningless for the United States. According to CCTV News, in one phone call Vance “criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s overly optimistic predictions about this U.S.-Israel conflict,” and said Netanyahu “exaggerated the likelihood of a regime change in Iran.”

The New York Times reported on June 18 that Vance on that day, in an interview, criticized that Israel’s handling of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran showed “odd panic” and “hysteria.” Vance said: “What I want to tell them is: You’re a country with only 9 million people. You can’t expect to solve every national security issue you face just through killing.”