The Trump administration appears to be placing increasing emphasis on two objectives in the war with Iran — preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and keeping oil and gas prices under control — a shift examined in a CNN analysis published Sunday.

Vice President JD Vance laid out those priorities during an interview Thursday, describing continued oil and gas flows through the Gulf and stable energy prices as “goal number one.” He then identified ensuring that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon as “goal number two.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that “both goals are equally as important to the president.”

The analysis noted that the administration has articulated a broader and sometimes changing set of objectives during the six-month war. Those have included complete Iranian surrender, regime change, ending Tehran’s support for proxy groups such as Hezbollah, and destroying portions of Iran’s missile and military infrastructure. Keeping oil and gas prices low, however, had not previously been included among the publicly stated goals.

President Trump has also increasingly emphasized the damage already inflicted on Iran’s nuclear program. While the administration previously focused on Iran surrendering its enriched uranium, President Trump has since argued that much of the country’s nuclear material is buried too deeply underground to be accessed and has said the U.S. could monitor the sites from space to prevent Iran from retrieving it. He has also declared that Iran has already been “denuclearized.”

The analysis argues that the increased emphasis on energy prices could indicate the administration is preparing for an eventual conclusion to the war without achieving every objective discussed earlier in the campaign. The White House, however, maintains that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains equally important, while President Trump has continued to defend the costs Americans have faced during the war, saying Friday that he would “never apologize” for Americans paying somewhat more for gasoline given what he views as the stakes in Iran.

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