Vance takes on Trump's 'poisoned chalice' of foreign policy missions - FT

US Vice President J.D. Vance returned to Washington on Sunday, but with little to show for his efforts in executing some of US President Donald Trump's most important and unusual foreign policy maneuvers, reports the Financial Times, writes UNN.

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After 21 hours of negotiations with Iranian officials, Vance announced no agreement to end the US-Israeli war against Tehran.

His trip to Hungary a few days ago to enlist the support of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also proved fruitless. The long-time populist leader and Trump ally suffered a crushing defeat in the parliamentary elections.

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"The double failure was a major setback for the vice president, whom many consider Trump's successor, and who in recent days has been sent around the world on missions where the odds were against him," the report says.

Meanwhile, Vance, who converted to Catholicism, "watched his boss delve into a dispute with Pope Leo over the weekend and attend a UFC fight with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State and rival for the Maga title," the publication writes.

"We knew for sure that Viktor had a very high chance of losing this election," Vance told Fox News on Monday. "We did it because he is one of the few European leaders we have seen who was willing to stand up to the bureaucracy in Brussels, which has a very bad effect on the US."

The US Vice President also defended his team's efforts in Islamabad, citing "some progress" over the weekend. "[Iran] was moving in our direction, so I think we would say we had some good signs, but they didn't move far enough," he told Fox News.

Foreign policy experts and former US officials said it was unrealistic to expect the vice president to emerge with a full-fledged agreement after the first round of talks with the Iranians.

"No sane person would expect a US-Iran deal in one day of negotiations," said Phil Gordon, who served as national security advisor to US Vice President Kamala Harris. "Sending the vice president to this also seemed to doom him to predictable failure."

A US official said negotiators went to Islamabad expecting the meetings to be brief to prepare a plan for future talks. However, the duration of the talks and the high status of the US and Iranian delegations are seen as reflecting a serious commitment by both sides to negotiations.

Vance's role as head of the US delegation, which included special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, put him in an awkward position, as he had long opposed US military intervention abroad.

Widespread reports indicated that Vance, an Iraq War veteran, was cool to Trump's plans to start a war with Israel against Iran. Now he has become the face of efforts to end that war.

Iran could indeed be a poisoned chalice for Vance. But if he does solve it, it will largely help him become president

The US Vice President's political ratings have fallen, amid Trump's own struggle with declining approval ratings. The latest RealClearPolitics averages show that just under 41 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Vice President, compared to nearly 50 percent who have an unfavorable opinion.

"He is completely constrained by the president's agenda," said Emma Ashford, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center think tank.

In Budapest, even as polls showed Orbán suffering a crushing defeat in Sunday's election, Vance seemed much more in his element.

"Vance would much rather talk about Europe than Iran," Mills said. "He flew to Hungary because he wanted to, he flew to Pakistan because he had to."

In a series of public appearances, he spoke out against the EU and welcomed the conservative worldview shared by the Trump and Orbán administrations.

On Tuesday evening, Vance asked a packed sports stadium in Budapest: "Will you stand against the bureaucrats in Brussels? Will you stand for sovereignty and democracy? Will you stand for Western civilization?"

He added: "Then, my friends, go to the polls this weekend and be with Viktor Orbán," and received a standing ovation.

Five days later, Orbán's rival Péter Magyar won the parliamentary elections, with his Tisza party securing an overwhelming majority of 138 out of 199 seats.