JD Vance backs President Trump’s Iran approach after lengthy negotiations and supports preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
JD Vance said Monday that 21 hours of talks with Iranian officials convinced him President Trump is on the right track with Operation Epic Fury, and that the stakes could not be higher. He described the Iranians as tough negotiators who have shown they will use every tool at their disposal, which makes the prospect of a Tehran-armed nuclear device unacceptable. Vance framed his support around the need to deny Iran the most destructive weapons and the leverage those weapons would give Tehran over the globe.
“It’s being reported that you had real skepticism about this at the beginning, and that you expressed that to the President. Is that true?” Fox News’ Brett Baier asked.
“Well, Brett, you know, I give my advice to the President of the United States, and we all do, and I expect that when I give advice to the President of the United States, that it’s going to be private, because the president should rely on his senior advisors without them running to the media,” the vice president said. “What I will say, Brett, is that I 100 percent agree with the president on the fact that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Vance added a clear appraisal of what the talks revealed about Iranian intent. “I’ve seen that just in the negotiation that we’ve had over the last couple of days, that these are tough negotiators, but they’re fundamentally the kinds of people where them having a nuclear weapon would impose terrible costs on the entire world,” he continued.
“If they’re willing to engage in economic terrorism on the entire world, what would it mean? What leverage would they have if they had a nuclear bomb in Tehran? That’s not an outcome that is acceptable to us or really should be acceptable to anybody. So I 100 percent support the President’s goals here to keep nuclear weapons, to keep the worst weapons of war out of the hands of the Iranians.”
The administration has escalated pressure with what officials describe as a targeted naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to cut off Iranian access to key shipping lanes and choke the regime’s revenue streams. That move is designed to create real costs for Tehran and to force more serious negotiations over its nuclear ambitions. U.S. officials say the blockade is intended to limit Iran’s ability to use maritime trade as a tool of influence and to constrain resources that could fund weapons programs.
The pressure appears to be producing movement at the negotiating table, with Tehran reportedly offering a pause of up to five years in its nuclear activities as a starting point. The United States countered with a much longer proposal, pressing for a near two-decade halt to the program to ensure any pause is durable and verifiable. Officials on both sides continue to haggle over timelines, inspections, and enforcement mechanisms as part of those proposals.
Vance framed his public backing as part of a broader belief that private counsel matters but that the policy outcome has to protect American and allied security interests. He emphasized that, while advisors provide counsel behind closed doors, the policy must ultimately prevent Iran from acquiring a weapon that could destabilize entire regions. His comments reflect a view that strong, decisive pressure paired with firm negotiation can yield meaningful limits on Iranian capabilities.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
