Sadjadpour says on CNN "Iran undeniably is in a war with the United States" even as Vance says the U.S. is not
Karim SadjadpourSenior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and CNN global affairs analyst, interviewed on CNN's The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins about the strikes on Iranian tankers, Sadjadpour said, "Iran undeniably is in a war with the United States," and referred to Vance's statement that the United States is not in a war.
Responding to
Vice President JD Vance said he would not call the U.S. fight with Iran a war, saying there is no active shooting right now and that major combat operations lasted about six weeks.
“Iran undeniably is in a war with the United States, even if President Vance -- Vice President Vance says that the United States is not in a war.”
Interview
Where this statement fits
Is the U.S. fight with Iran a war, as Vice President Vance says it is not?
At a White House press briefing on September 3, 2026, Vice President JD Vance was asked whether the fighting with Iran would be over before the midterm elections. He said, "I wouldn't call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting," and said major combat operations lasted about six weeks. The next day President Trump said he calls it "a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us." Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Ro Khanna, Rep. Thomas Massie and Democrat Amy McGrath, a former Marine pilot, criticized the description or Trump's defense of it. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. is "still in a conflict, for sure," and, as quoted by Al Arabiya English, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson called the fighting "an overt military aggression." The dispute is whether describing the fighting as not a war is an accurate and acceptable characterization.
Source and context
Interview
About this source
CNN's rush transcript of The Source with Kaitlan Collins for September 8, 2026, aired at 9 p.m. ET. Collins introduces Sadjadpour as CNN's Iran expert and global affairs analyst and asks about strikes on Iranian tankers. CNN captions him as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. CNN marks the transcript as possibly not in its final form.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Sadjadpour spoke on September 8, 2026, after Collins said the United States had struck five Iranian tankers and that Vance had said the previous week that he would not call the fighting a war. She asked him, "a lot of people might look at this and say, Looks like a war to me."
After the quotation
Sadjadpour went on to say that Iran is "debilitated both economically and militarily" but "still has great destructive capacity."
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is Vance's statement that he would not call the fighting a war. Sadjadpour offers a different description, saying Iran "undeniably is in a war" with the United States, and does not address whether the fighting is right or wrong. That disputes the label without denouncing Vance, so challenges the characterization fits better than condemns.
- Recorded on
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- People and groups discussed
- JD Vance
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The Dispute Index. "Sadjadpour says on CNN "Iran undeniably is in a war with the United States" even as Vance says the U.S. is not". First published: 2026-09-26. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2768-asked-by-cnn-s-kaitlan-collins-about-the