Jamie Dimon, Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., attends the 2025 IIF Annual Membership Meeting on Thursday, October 16, 2025 in Washington, DC, USA.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday that while a war with Iran poses short-term risks, it could ultimately improve prospects for lasting peace in the Middle East.
“I think a war with Iran would be a better chance in the long run, but it would be riskier in the short run because we don’t know the outcome,” Dimon told Palantir executive and former congressman Mike Gallagher at a conference in Washington, D.C.
A key change, Dimon said, is the convergence of interests among regional powers. He said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the United States and Israel all want lasting peace, adding that Persian Gulf states in particular have shown a willingness to move in that direction.
“That attitude is not what it was 20 years ago,” Dimon said. “They all want it.”
The conflict began last month when the United States and Israel launched hundreds of attacks on Iran, including the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. The war spread to the world market as oil prices soared due to supply disruptions. Stocks rose on Monday after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the two sides had discussed a “complete and complete resolution” to the war, while Iran denied talks were taking place.
Mr. Dimon, who heads the world’s largest bank by market capitalization, also linked his contrarian views of the Middle East directly to economics, arguing that the region’s demand for foreign direct investment, which has flowed into the Gulf for years, would dry up without stability.
“Neighboring countries can’t shoot ballistic missiles at data centers,” he said.
“I’m extremely frustrated.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Dimon touched on a variety of topics, from the impact of artificial intelligence on the workforce, stablecoins, and the bank’s new global headquarters in New York. But national security and geopolitical issues took center stage.
Dimon said the U.S. needs to “get its act together” on industries key to national security, which was part of the motivation for launching the $1.5 trillion initiative last year.
“I’m deeply dissatisfied with … our own American policies that have set us back,” Dimon said, citing the inability to manufacture enough munitions as an example.
“We’ve become like Europe, unable to move and change, change budgeting, change procurement,” he said.
Dimon said the U.S. government and business sector have “made big mistakes” over the past few decades, including relying on key Chinese components in their response to China.
He said Americans should expect that a conflict could someday arise over China’s aspirations for Taiwan.
“You have to give them credit for doing some things incredibly well,” Dimon said, including building batteries, cars, drones and ships. “We must look at our shortcomings and be ready to confront them if they become our enemy.”
Dimon added that winning wars in Ukraine and Iran “would be very helpful” in dealing with China.
