Chris Wright
Role at the time: U.S. Secretary of Energy, interviewed on ABC's This Week
Response to this claim
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.
“We're still in a conflict, for sure. The United States Navy is there to reduce Iran's ability to cause trouble, but they're doing everything they can to cause trouble. And the United States' capabilities to deflect that have continued to grow. But we're in a conflict zone. ... So, this is a conflict. Make no mistake about that.”
ABC's rush transcript of This Week for September 6, 2026. In the interview, host Martha Raddatz asks Energy Secretary Chris Wright whether the U.S. is still at war with Iran. ABC marks the transcript as possibly not in its final form.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Wright does not adopt the word war, which is consistent with Vance's wording, but he says the U.S. is in a conflict and a conflict zone with Iran causing trouble, which does not endorse Vance's picture of no active shooting. Because the statement combines those two positions, mixed or conditional fits better than defends or excuses.