WATCH LIVE: Vance holds White House briefing after Trump signs Iran war agreement

By — Michelle L. Price, Associated Press Michelle L. Price, Associated Press By — Seung Min Kim, Associated Press Seung Min Kim, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-vance-holds-white-house-briefing-after-trump-signs-iran-war-agreement Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH LIVE: Vance holds White House briefing after Trump signs Iran war agreement Politics Jun 18, 2026 10:40 AM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — JD Vance was supposed to be spending the week promoting his new book, the kind of event a potential presidential candidate like the vice president typically uses to speak to a wide audience about his life and values ahead of a campaign. Vice President JD Vance will hold a White House press briefing at 11 a.m. EDT. Watch live in our video player above. Instead, the rollout of Vance's second book, "Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith," has been largely crowded out by something else he's put his name on: the tentative deal to end the Iran war. READ MORE: Trump's economic approval rating hits new low, poll finds The Republican vice president has embraced the role of chief defender of the agreement he and President Donald Trump signed with Tehran, giving a series of interviews touting the memorandum of understanding as a success and releasing a video championing it. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. It's a striking emergence for a politician who was known for his skepticism of foreign military interventions and who seemed reluctant to speak on the conflict when Trump launched it in late February. The vice president is poised to yoke himself further to the conflict's outcome on Friday, when he's expected to travel to Switzerland to kick off a new phase of negotiations with Iran. He was originally expected to attend a formal signing ceremony for the deal, but Trump formally signed it on Wednesday instead. WATCH: U.S. officials reveal key terms of agreement to end Iran war Vance becoming a hype man for the agreement seems to be an all-in gamble that, should he decide to seek the White House in 2028, voters will reward him for being the face of ending an unpopular conflict. It's also setting Vance up as the presumptive fall guy should the deal with Iran falter. Trump joked about such a possibility on Wednesday. "If it works out, I'm going to take the credit. If it doesn't work out, I'm blaming JD," Trump said. Officials release text of the deal after backlash The White House in a statement called Vance the president's "right-hand man and an invaluable member of the President's talented national security team." "That's why the Vice President was trusted to lead these negotiations alongside Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner," White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said. "What President Trump and his team achieved on the battlefield and at the negotiating