CNN: Vance and the US Joint Chiefs chairman raised concerns about escalating the Iran war, with munitions stockpiles at the centre of the warning

CNN, in a report by Zachary Cohen and Jim Sciutto published in the early hours of Sunday, 26 July 2026, cited a source familiar with the matter and a US official as saying that Vice President JD Vance and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both raised concerns about escalating the war with Iran at a White House meeting on Friday, 24 July, at which Donald Trump was weighing the option of widening the strikes.

According to the report, Caine specifically warned about the state of US munitions stockpiles and other possible negative implications. He told Trump the military could carry out the options available and be successful, but went on to warn of the potential consequences. CNN noted that Caine and a number of other military leaders had also warned Trump before the war began that a protracted military campaign could affect US weapons stockpiles.

On Friday night the United States halted its bombing of Iran after nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly strikes, and according to a Department of Defense source operations are "on a hold". The length and intensity of the campaign matters for energy markets, because it shapes the risk premium in global oil prices and, through that channel, inflation expectations and Iran's currency market.