President Donald Trump hung his 2024 political platform on “no wars” and “America First,” and former Vice President Mike Pence believes that the pre-emptive strike on Iran last month isn’t a contradiction.
“The president I served with is not an isolationist,” Pence said. “The president pushed back on a growing chorus of isolationist voices on the right who not only oppose Operation Epic Fury, but also opposed the effort to take out the nuclear facilities a year ago.”
U.S. officials launched Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 to end Iran’s nuclear program. Operation Epic Fury is the latest U.S. initiative against Iran in alliance with Israel’s Operation Rising Lion mission.
Since Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, U.S.-Israeli strikes have sunk some 60 Iranian ships, struck more than 5,500 targets, leveled drone factories, and neutralized 80 percent of Iran’s missile launchers.
“The second opportunity that the United States has today, because of the president’s decision and the professionalism of our armed forces, is to literally restore deterrence on the world stage by demonstrating that America remains the arsenal of democracy, the leader of the free world, and is fully prepared to use force to advance our aims as well,” Pence said.
Pence, who has since founded the conservative advocacy group Advancing American Freedom, commended Trump for launching the Iran conflict because he believes it puts the security and long-term interests of the United States first.
He framed the strikes as a continuation of a 47-year Iranian threat that started in 1979 when the Mullahs took over Iran and held American hostages for nearly 400 days.
Mullahs are known as Muslims who are educated in Islamic theology.
Initial polling, however, reveals public skepticism of Trump’s decision to strike Iran.
Pence insisted that Trump has made the right decision and called Make America Great Again critics a “fringe” minority and that most Republicans and conservatives back the effort.
“My hope … my prayer is that we are setting the conditions to bring the threat that Iran has posed to the American people, to our interest in the region, to our most cherished ally, Israel, to an end once and for all,” he added.
