Democratic Vice Presidential nominee and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz wrangled over Middle Eastern foreign policy with his Republican counterpart, Ohio Senator and 2024 Vice Presidential hopeful J.D. Vance, in a debate hosted by CBS News in New York City Tuesday night.

Coming just hours after Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel Tuesday, the vice presidential debate opened with questions regarding America’s position vis-a-vis an Israeli strike on Iran.

Both Walz and Vance highlighted October 7th in the opening of their responses, with Walz emphasizing the need for the U.S. to maintain “steady leadership” in the region and to work with “our Israeli partners and our coalition.”

Trump, Walz accused, is temperamentally unfit to hold “the coalitions together,” while lauding the Biden administration, crediting its support for Israel in the downing of many of the ballistic missiles launched Tuesday, saying the U.S.-aligned coalition was “able to stop the incoming attack.”

“When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin, turn towards North Korea, when we start to see that type of fickleness around holding the coalitions together, we will stay committed?”

Vance, in turn, appeared to blame the Biden administration for both the October 7th invasion of Israel and Tuesday’s ballistic missile strikes, linking them to sanctions waivers granted by President Joe Biden and to billions of Iranian assets unfrozen by the White House.

“Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration,” Vance said.

“What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they’re now launching against our allies and, God forbid, potentially launching against the United States as well.”

“You can’t ignore October the 7th, which I appreciate Governor Walz bringing up. But when did Iran and Hamas and their proxies attack Israel? It was during the administration of Kamala Harris.”

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