President Donald Trump has publicly criticised Vice President JD Vance over his blunt post-mortem of last week's midterm elections, saying that many people disliked the vice president's comments blaming the war in Iran for the Republican defeat.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump was asked whether Vance's public assessment had damaged their relationship. "No, not at all, but a lot of people didn't like his comments, but not me," the president said.

Trump said Vance had been largely right, but had left out one important point. "He was right. Other than one thing. He should have made one other statement, one which I think is very important. If you had it to do again, would you do it again? The answer is yes," Trump said.

He went on to defend the war in the strongest terms. "This, historically, for history will go down as one of the best things we ever did because if they [Iran] ever had a nuclear weapon, they would blow up the world. You know why? Cause they're crazy," he added.

Vance set off the row on Wednesday with a 618-word post on X, published after Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress and a majority of state governorships. In it, he attacked the Republican "establishment" and blamed the Iran war for the losses. "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so," he wrote.

"But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there. I remain hopeful about our country," Vance added, telling critics: "To the people who are pissed off and want to say, 'I told you so': you're right, you did tell us so."

Trump's tone on Sunday was noticeably cooler than it had been earlier in the week. A Trump aide had previously said the president was "briefed beforehand" on Vance's statement and "did not have any issues with it", and the White House retweeted the vice president's post. Trump himself had told reporters at the time: "I thought it was good."

In a CBS "60 Minutes" interview that aired on Sunday, Trump appeared to sympathise with Vance's argument, admitting that some voters "didn't like the war". "They didn't like the war. They didn't like the fact that gasoline went up, 'cause I had it down at a low," he told correspondent Ross Douthat, adding that everyone agreed Iran could never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

But he returned to his central point, that he would make the same decision again. "That war has been won. Now they're withering away as a country, and they'll come, and they'll make a deal," Trump said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, widely seen as another possible successor to Trump, declined to comment on Sunday on any link between the war and the election results. Vance is widely regarded as a leading contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, and his public break with the president over the war has been read in Washington as a marker laid down ahead of that contest.