WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared on Thursday that the United States does not need an agreement with Iran, ordering Vice President JD Vance — who has been involved in efforts to end the eight-month war — to devote "his complete and total attention" to alleged crime and corruption in Democratic-run cities and states.

The directive arrived one day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Vance was weighing face-to-face peace talks with a hard-line Iranian security official, and one week after the vice president faulted the costly Iran war for the Republican Party's midterm election drubbing.

"We don't need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We've got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we've got their Strait!" Mr. Trump wrote on social media, referring to the Strait of Hormuz.

In recent weeks, the president had indicated Iran might be more inclined to reach a settlement in the eight-month conflict once the US elections passed. But his administration signaled this week that it considers its blockade and economic sanctions on Iran to be working, making both military escalation and diplomacy unnecessary.

The US military is enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports while working to secure safe passage for international shipping through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, which lies between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is one of the world's most heavily used corridors for oil tanker traffic. Iran's military said on Thursday that four oil tankers were struck by explosions after ignoring Iranian warnings, an episode that underscored the hazards facing commercial shipping in the Gulf.

Mr. Vance's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vance had led Iran diplomacy

Mr. Vance was long viewed as skeptical of the war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran in February. He led negotiations with Iranian officials in Pakistan in April, producing a June memorandum of understanding that paused the fighting — an agreement that collapsed within weeks.

Late last month, Iranian state media said Tehran had received a letter from Mr. Vance seeking renewed talks with Washington. Mr. Trump said he had not instructed his vice president to make the approach.

On Tuesday, after meeting with US allies in Paris, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Iran's demands for a potential deal as "absurd," pointing to its call for war reparations, and said Mr. Trump would not sign a bad agreement.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Mr. Vance was considering a meeting with a senior Iranian security official, a step that would have placed the vice president at the center of peace negotiations. Reuters has not verified the potential talks, and it remained unclear whether any such meeting would take place.

Mr. Vance, regarded as a leading contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, distanced himself from the conflict last week after Democrats routed Republicans in the midterm elections. He attributed the party's losses in part to the financial toll of the Iran war and described an earlier recommendation to end it as "sound advice."

Mr. Trump pushed back on that position, defending the war as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

In his social media post, the president said he had instead tasked Mr. Vance with a domestic matter previously placed in his portfolio: leading an effort targeting alleged fraud in Democratic-run cities and states across the country.

"Our Budget could be quickly BALANCED with the correction of this large-scale criminal activity. CORRUPTION is in the Democrat Leadership's blood!" Mr. Trump wrote on Thursday. — Reuters